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AMC announced today that it will renew Mad Men for a second season. The second season will consist of 13 episodes beginning in the summer of 2008. The Season One finale will air on Thursday, October 18th at 10PM | 9C.
"AMC's first foray into original scripted series has been a success right out of the gate" said Rob Sorcher, Executive Vice President programming and production for AMC. "We're grateful that our quality-driven programming instincts connected with a passionate fan base, and we're looking forward to an exciting second season which will continue to spark broader cultural conversation. Mad Men clearly fulfills AMC new promise to be The Future of Classic.
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That was the headline back in October announcing a second season. Season 1 is currently re-airing on AMC at midnight on Sunday nights. I was able to watch the first episode tonight and it's really good stuff. I'm only judging based on one episode, but the dialogue is well crafted without being unbelievable and the plot set up isn't being made to render standard television affair. All the characters have different motivations and the story continually references the sociological issues of the time. Plus the plot is unpredictable. It goes from situation to situation within the character's lives without the concerns of building smaller stories. Bad television shows seem to live and die on the essentials of 30 minute stories (some good ones do as well).
The other good quality the show has going for it is that isn't afraid to take on the subject matter. The first episode already delved full on into the racism and sexism of the world of big business advertisers in the 1950s. The show doesn't take on these issues with modern contexts, but offers realistic characterization to how people would have behaved then. The fact that the show is on basic cable makes one assume the show will avvoid the necessary adult situations to render a realistic portrait, but the show has few fears. I think it gets past the language limitations because corporate higher ups weren't overly swearing in the 50s, but they were committing adultery and leading a life without little concern. The show emphasizes their bravado well.
I don't know. I guess I'm not the best advertiser myself, but I hope people check it out.
i want to watch this show. i was going to wait for the dvd but maybe i'll try to catchup if AMC is playing them again now...
Quote from: modage on January 21, 2008, 08:51:48 AM
i want to watch this show. i was going to wait for the dvd but maybe i'll try to catchup if AMC is playing them again now...
First episode just aired last night, but if you have Tivo or something, you're in luck.
itunes has them. Decent Show I've watched 3 episodes
Mad Men Receives 16 Emmy Noms: Season 2 July 27 @ 10PM | 9C
Returning for its second season, the Golden Globe®-winning series for Best TV drama and actor will continue to blur the lines between truth and lies, perception and reality. The world of Mad Men is moving in a new direction -- can Sterling Cooper keep up? Meanwhile the private life of Don Draper becomes complicated in a new way. What is the cost of his secret identity? Season 2 Premieres Sunday, July 27 @ 10PM | 9C.
--
Anyone else staying home tonight for this?
not rooting for it just because it's nowhere near the wire on any level.
Quote from: omuy on July 27, 2008, 07:37:21 PM
Anyone else staying home tonight for this?
I am, less than 30 minutes till season 2.
amazing premiere
Spoiler...
who do you think don sent the book to?
End Spoiler...
i've been watching this. i've been LOVING it. because it's a totally original version of the early 60's and makes every other fictional portrayal of it look like a caricature.
Last nights episode..
Just keeps getting better and better. No Pete Campbell in this one. Waiting for Don Draper to have sex with Joan...hasn't happened yet.
Spoiler
Don Draper getting a hold of Bobbie Bartlett's Vagina and threatening her husband to be kicked off basic cable was the ballsiest thing on TV I've seen in a while.
"I will RUIN Him!"
End Spoiler
Also, for anyone who is interested, wasn't it great to see actor who played 'Jimmy Bartlett' has been in many famous TV shows and movies such as Twister, Speed, Full Frontal, Ghost World, The Black Dahlia, Swimming With Sharks, but most of you might remember him from Mulholland Drive, as 'Dan' the crazy man who talks to his psychologist in the coffee shop. Am I the only one who saw last nights episode on this board?
spoils
i just caught it. i was very surprised to see that guy. i have seen most of his appearances. he's always SO WEIRD and yet captivating. he should be one of lynch's regular ensemble. what happened to pete? i really really enjoy pete. is he on vacation?
"you're the head of the tv department. which consists solely of you." that whole scene was so good and cathartic after the build-up ..which is hard to come by. it seems like they're introducing a lot of new characters. which i'm all for. interesting season so far.. can't see the major thread yet.
You definitely don't see much vagina grabbing on the tube these days. I love it when Mrs. Utz says she doesn't have the stomach for it and it cuts away just as Jimmy B. starts to bite his fist. Awesome.
I just watched the pilot tonight on DVD. Sorta kinda hooked already.
I've watched the first disc and I dig it... not as much as everyone else seems to (though it's hard to watch anything after coming down off the wire), but I still enjoy it.
My wife watched it too though, and she's not so big into it. This is going to make it harder to watch... can anyone tell me, without spoiling, if it gets better after the first three episodes? Like something that will really hook her? I really like the show's aesthetic... I'm in love with the time period.. handsome men in handsome suits acting unhandsomely.. fun fun, but if there's some kind of hook soon, let me know (without telling me what it is), so I can convince my wife to at least watch it until that happens.
Not sure when it really starts to pick up. I would suggest you stick with it though..
Regarding sunday night's episode:
It was wonderful to see colin hanks as the priest and some background to Peggy's family. I really enjoyed the end with Don and his wife in their bed.
this coming sundays episode is great. everyone watch.
Mod, have you seen it already?
Spoilers I guess for this weeks episode....
The interplay between Peggy and Bobbie was great. Elisabeth Moss is SO sharp. And I loved the gags this week - Pete looking at the girly mags readying to produce a sample... cut to Sterling furiously paddling the ball. And Joan's line about the ring not needing to mean everything, and yet... the timing these actors have for the material is just excellent. It BRILLIANT that Don and Peggy have some "thing" between them. And NO, I don't want it to be romantic. The thing is dirty and necessary and ugly and only the two of them know this stuff about each other. And I LOVE Don's quote to Peggy, "It'll shock you how much this didn't happen!" EFFING Masterful! I can't wait to unravel more the the Don and Peggy mystery. Again, not a romantic one.
This show is the only one I'm watching during the summer and it just gets better and better with each episode but I have to say every one has their own heavily guarded demons. The weighty depression is as heavy as it is in 'Magnolia'. It becomes so palpable in some moments its tough to watch. Peggy, (Elizabeth Moss) looks sooo fucking hot in that second to last scene in the club. Duck letting the dog go was heartbreaking and said something about how he is dealing with his family as well as dealing with Draper. The last scene, the shaving scene with Don and his little girl is a bit disturbing. My hunger for this show is growing every moment. I can't wait till we get to see what happens next year IF the cover the kennedy assassination....
Anyone else seen tonight's episode? Its 3:30AM LA time so its a bit late to be saying tonight, but you get my point.
I'm ok with this show - its backdrop in the upper middle class 60s provides something very comfortable for the viewer - it's a world where everyone is infinitely more sophisticated and beauty but it's also a world where everyone is infinitely more stupid. I don't know how many more lingering shots of the black elevator operator I can take. siding with an asshole (albeit a tortured one) is riveting, but by now the gag's a bit obvious and played. In season 1 there was a shroud of mystery surrounding the character, but now he's just an asshole who might feel less entitled than his peers, and feels like, guilty, for being an asshole, but bad boys are better left mysterious, rather than stupid. just because the writer was aware of how backwards these beautiful people are didn't make me any less impatient. I much rather watch a show like Burn Notice where even though the show's really dumb, the characters are much smarter than the viewers (as they might know foreign languages and physical properties of steel doors). As for Mad Men, everyone on this past week's episode was stupid, though glamorously so, as often the case with television. Fuck it, turn back the clock and give back your Emmy.
this flew way under my radar for long, but i think i decided i will go buy the season 1 dvd tomorrow... too many awards, critics and xixax cant be wrong.
'Mad Men' Season 3 set for summer
AMC president optimistic creator will return
Source: Variety
AMC prexy Charlie Collier went right to the question on every reporters' mind at the start of the cabler's Television Critics Assn. panel on Thursday afternoon: The fate of the net's Emmy-winning drama "Mad Men."
The period skein will return for its third season this summer as skedded, despite the prolonged contract negotiations between producer Lionsgate TV and creator/exec producer Matthew Weiner, Collier assured.
"As long as we get the writers' room up and running over the next few months, we're fine (for a summer launch)," Collier told reporters after the sesh, adding that he's optimistic that an agreement with Weiner will be reached soon.
The return of "Mad Men" will lead into the launch of "The Prisoner," the six-part series remake of the classic 1960s Brit drama of the same name.
On hand for the TCA panel was star James Caviezel, who will star as "No. Six," the bewildered secret agent who wakes up imprisoned in a strange village in which everyone has a number but no name. Appearing with Caviezel was Ian McKellen, who plays "No. 2," the mysterious village official charged with extracting secrets from "No. Six."
Noting that the No. 2 character was replaced every time he failed to extract information from No. 6 in the original - the role was actually passed off between three actors in the 1967 version -- director Nick Hurran confirmed that McKellen will be around for the duration of the remake. "Perhaps you don't screw up," he noted.
Preceding the "Prisoner" panel, Bryan Cranston led members of the cast and crew from "Breaking Bad" through a round of Q&A. Sporting a head of hair that was absent during his best dramatic actor acceptance speech at September's Emmys - Cranston shaved his head for the season three shoot - the thesp rehashed the experience of winning his first Emmy for "Bad" after being nommed three times before for his prior series, the Fox comedy "Malcolm in the Middle."
"I was pretty comfortable with not winning, and I was prepared not to win," Cranston said. "And the first millisecond of that went by after they called my name, I thought, That sounds familiar. Then I realized, Oh my god, that's me."
YEEEESSSSSSSSSSS!
'Mad Men' creator Weiner inks deal
Source: Variety
After months of negotiations, "Mad Men" creator and exec producer Matthew Weiner has cut a two-year deal with Lionsgate TV that will keep him at the helm of his Emmy-winning AMC drama.
Details of the pact were sketchy Friday, but it is said to cover Weiner's services on "Mad Men" for the show's third and fourth seasons as well as other TV development. It also includes a component for a feature project through Lionsgate.
Weiner's negotiations with Lionsgate became highly public last year after the showrunner let it be known that his contract on the show ran out after the second season, which wrapped in October.
Weiner sought a hefty pay raise for himself and in the show's budget after all of the pop culture buzz, kudos and critical acclaim the period drama has garnered.
Weiner in a statement said that "Mad Men" had been "a charmed experience" for him and credited AMC and Lionsgate as being "two companies who love taking risks and value creativity."
It's understood that AMC stepped up to help Lionsgate finance the seven-figure pact with Weiner. The talks were tense at times, as word spread that Weiner's reps were seeking an eight-figure deal and that Lionsgate was inquiring with talent agencies about the availablity of other showrunners.
Weiner nurtured "Mad Men," which he wrote as a spec, for seven years before it got a greenlight from AMC in 2006. Its third season is skedded to bow this summer, and now that Weiner's deal is set the writing staff is expected to go back to work immediately.
"It's a happy day," said Lionsgate TV prexy Kevin Beggs. "We're glad to have Matt back in the family. We look forward to next season and many more to come."
So after finishing the second season I can't wait until the next one. The characters and storytelling reminds me so much of The Sopranos (probably because of the same people involved), and I never thought they could structure the episodes and story lines so well like Sopranos with a totally different setting and complex characters.
Great show and once again disagree 100% with what Pete said.
what are you disagreeing with? you didn't think the show was impossibly glamorous or hilariously un-pc? Those two gimmicks costed them my patience, that was all I said.
Quote from: pete on February 21, 2009, 02:33:44 PM
what are you disagreeing with? you didn't think the show was impossibly glamorous or hilariously un-pc? Those two gimmicks costed them my patience, that was all I said.
I dont see it that way, and I don't see the characters as stupid, and I don't think they need to give back the Emmy.
DVD and Blu-ray coming out in July. Already preordered mine.
god i hope they do multiple commentaries on every episode again. that's the kind of thing i gladly surrender lots of money for.
Quote from: picolas on February 24, 2009, 01:28:14 AM
god i hope they do multiple commentaries on every episode again. that's the kind of thing i gladly surrender lots of money for.
i don't know what happened, but a lot of the commentaries this time around aren't nearly as interesting. it's like, 'you do realize you're being recorded, right? and people are listening for anything interesting about this obviously complex process you went through.' weiner is the most reliable commentary guy but he often slips into the deadly commentary sin of simply recounting what's happening in the episode as though you've never seen it. out of pride. which he deserves. every episode so far keeps giving, revealing more and more little amazing details i didn't catch the first time. obviously it's a very fascinating, layered show. but people: you're being recorded!!
Christina Hendricks may be one of the most beautiful women in the world.
Quote from: Stefen on July 26, 2009, 07:57:41 PM
Christina Hendricks may be one of the most beautiful women in the world.
Ditto
Spent the last couple months working on this site: http://www.madmenyourself.com
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ffarm3.static.flickr.com%2F2666%2F3762378585_89caf45295.jpg%3F&hash=db28ff51f5213efcd9d6eac7f61bdab966d417da) (http://www.madmenyourself.com)
You can make an avatar of yourself in 1960's cartoon style as drawn by the illustrator Dyna Moe. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/nobodyssweetheart/sets/72157606178887453/) It's a bit like the Simpsons one and a bit like the anime one but hopefully cool enough to warrant it's existence. There are still a few bugs to be worked out but the site is up and I'm pretty excited about it.
Looks pretty good, man.
I have to say, I was skeptical, but I got mine to look a good deal like me with little effort. Doesn't hurt that you often find a Manhattan or old fashioned in my hand.
The suitcase/bag shows up in the wrong layer it seems (looks like it should be in front of the leg, but shows up behind) and I wish there was something between fit and fat, but other than that, it's great.
Ain't workin with Safari
Suitcase thing we are working on. Along with the placement on some of the bg's. Safari should work if you have Flash.
Quote from: modage on July 27, 2009, 03:12:23 PM
Suitcase thing we are working on. Along with the placement on some of the bg's. Safari should work if you have Flash.
I switched my twitter-av to this guy and immediately noticed that three different people I follow have done the same. WILDFIRE!
edit: Including Mr. Ted Leo!
Holy shit! That's great. I noticed Karina Longworth doing the same.
We also got some press:
Popwatch//EW (http://popwatch.ew.com/popwatch/2009/07/mad-men-yourself.html)
Jezebel (http://jezebel.com/5323805/my-mad-men-avatar-is-awkward-and-drunk/gallery/)
Buzzfeed (http://www.buzzfeed.com/thoughtbrain/mad-men-yourself-4b)
AV Club // The Onion (http://www.avclub.com/articles/make-yourself-a-mad-man-or-woman,30907/?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds&utm_source=avclub_rss_daily)
PopWrap // NY Post (http://blogs.nypost.com/popwrap/archives/2009/07/mad_men_yourself.html)
NY Mag // Vulture Blog (http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2009/07/mad_menize_yourself.html)
(!!!)
whoa, its all over my facebook feed. the internet is weird.
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg248.imageshack.us%2Fimg248%2F1341%2Fmadmenfullbody.jpg&hash=f0ee162751a2b8101ce3ee15c0c96ebf519f3bae)
I'm too humble to say so myself, but may I suggest that I look gooood.
I've seen it everywhere today and only now realized that you made it, Mod! Congrats, best web app in ages! Way cooler than the Simpsons.
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haha great job on this. i've been letting the music play idly for a while now.
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi269.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fjj62%2FSiliasruby%2Fmadmen_fullbody.jpg&hash=97ae78fd568a89c22407e23a7d28c63f05237d08)
amazing site mod, congratulations!
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi7.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fy251%2Ffbv%2Fmadmen_fullbody.jpg&hash=bc8803ca30e58360b65508ceb1b037c903412f98)
two things mod.
1. what's the music in the background? if you have the mp3 i'd love to have it, if not can you find out what song is that?
2. what exactly did you do/work/design on the site?
Earlier this year I worked with my creative director to come up with a handful of site/viral/socialmedia type ideas and went to AMC to pitch them. They chose the avatar creator since they wanted to do something with Dyna Moe's artwork which had already become a viral sensation during Season 2 (and had made creator Matt Weiner a fan). I designed 1 of 3 comps for the site that we presented, but they ultimately went with another design. At that point I helped out with design, production work, a little animation and along w/a few other co-workers made sure the thousands of little decisions that got made were for the best site. The song we got from a stock music site though the dream was to get a 60's lounge version of the Mad Men theme but we ran out of time to get the clearances. We're putting up a new version of the site tonight with a few bugs we found and things we didn't have time to get to for the initial launch (which is good because every little bug I see REALLY bothers me). Hopefully we're almost done!
Congrats, mod! You made The Bullseye in this week's Entertainment Weekly.
Kickasss!
i haven't watched an episode, but the previews seem to just show that it's about cheating.
madmenyourself got a mention at the beginning of the hater podcast. warning: they hated it.
http://www.avclub.com/articles/a-quiverfull-of-duggars-n-exploitation,31404/
Eh, fuck those haters and their witless snark. The dude in it had never even seen the show, and seemed pretty clueless in general.
i thought it was awesome actually!
they've never seen the show. and they're not on facebook (let alone twitter)
the guy had never heard of the site (even though this is an onion av club podcast and the site was featured on the onion av club)
they said "it set the internet on fire last week." (which is awesome!)
and it's called Hatecast, so i figured that was their bag.
thanks for the find, pic. i sent it around at work.
anybody seen the new season premiere?
i loved it. brilliant writing and a great way to jump ahead of time a little without making the audience feel lost in the process. don draper is really one of the most fascinating characters in television ever.
Yeah I loved it too. I think we're the only message board on the internet that isn't obsessively discussing it.
minor spoilers.....
- I thought the fire alarm in the hotel bit was a little contrived but I was happy to see Sal finally get some. I loved the scene on the plane when Don asks Sal to be completely honest, and then goes on to pitch an ad to him, and the double entendre of the "limit your exposure" headline. That was great.
- "Taken to your tools like a little lesbian." hah
- The british invasion of Sterling Cooper is a fascinating dynamic. I predict Don is doomed, that he will eventually get pushed out by an impending creative revolution of the 60s. He's getting old, and he's too cocky to realize it.
- Oh, what happened to Doug Phillips?
Quote from: bigideas on August 04, 2009, 11:46:58 AM
i haven't watched an episode, but the previews seem to just show that it's about cheating.
if someone's bored convince me why i should watch this show.
duck phillips is gone (remember the meeting at the end of last season when the brits asked him to leave after he lost his temper? fill in the blanks there).
i liked the premiere a lot, even more watching it the 2nd time but didn't love it.
also: there is more peggy in episode 2.
the first episode was pretty good. but...
Spoils:
Remember the end of last season with that really haunting image of pete sitting in his office holding the rifle? I honestly thought this season would start at his funeral or something. I really thought some crazy shit was gonna go down but i guess that's tv for ya. can't just kill off a main character like that. This is a great show but don draper has very few redeeming qualities as a human being other than being just the ultimate badass. Last season when he says "I don't have a contract" and duck freaks out, that was priceless. But i wish just for once that the fucker would NOT cheat. He's like McNulty in that he's such an awesome character to watch but he's so flawed in so many ways. I guess its just good writing.
can't wait for episode two. This is the first show in a very long time (like since south park for me) where i'm actually keeping up with the show as it airs on tv.
Someone told me that they're going to try to bring it into at least the 80s by the last season of the series. Is there any truth to this or are my friends all liars?
your friends are liars. matthew weiner woudln't even say what year THIS season would take place in let alone a game plan for future seasons.
Q: Do you see the show running long enough to leave the sixties and enter the seventies, possibly even the eighties? How do you think it would affect the characters, plot lines, and overall feel of the show? - Chelsea C
Weiner: I would love to see what happens to them. That's all I'm going to say.
http://blogs.amctv.com/mad-men/2009/08/interview-matthew-weiner-season-3.php
i didn't love it either. i was really disappointed by how nonchalantly don went with the stewardess. it was as though last season didn't happen. it wasn't a bad episode, but i'd call it overconfident. sometimes i'm a little cautious about the weiner-written eps... i still feel mixed about the one with duck last season where he leaves the dog. felt like an implausibly dramatic gesture to me, and kind of out of nowhere because we'd just met the dog. it's still one of my favourite shows. i was just let down by this premiere. i think the ken/pete subplot'll be fruitful and i loved the way it was set up. is ep 2 better, mod?
Quote from: picolas on August 19, 2009, 03:20:36 PMit wasn't a bad episode, but i'd call it overconfident. sometimes i'm a little cautious about the weiner-written eps...
We're now 4 episodes in, and while I've thoroughly enjoyed all of them, something about this season is irking me. Maybe it is an overconfidence issue, particularly on the writer's part (by the way, Weiner has written/co-written every episode so far. Talk about a control freak) but I think the show is getting too bogged down and self-aware of its own coolness, so much so that behind every "cool" line I feel as if Matt Weiner is winking at us. I know a big reason people love the show is the sexiness factor, but sometimes I think everything, from wardrobe to set design, looks almost
too manicured, and certain scenes play out a little too rehearsed, often with dialogue that sounds wince-inducingly staged and ultimately corny. I kind of wish they would mess it up a little bit.
And speaking of staged, if the writers are hell-bent on investigating more of Don's past, they have to come up with better ways-in than him waking up in the middle of the night and starring endlessly at an old photo.
Quote from: ©brad on September 08, 2009, 01:30:57 PM
And speaking of staged, if the writers are hell-bent on investigating more of Don's past, they have to come up with better ways-in than him waking up in the middle of the night and starring endlessly at an old photo.
No shit right? I thought the whole flashback at the beginning of Ep. 1 was kind of unnecessary too.
Why is no one commenting after last nights episode? Utter wildness.
Highlights of last night:
Joan's Scenes
Kinsey
and
The thrashing of the foot with the subsequent joke afterward.
Finally got a chance to watch it. Classic episode. Hopefully this will quell the creeping consensus out there that this season is boring or somehow a step down from previous seasons. It's always been a show that moves at a deliberate pace, that will set something up and only weeks later pay it off in the subtlest of ways, but people still seem to flip out if events unfold at any rate slower than an episode of 24. I blame DVD. When people actually have to wait a week between episodes, they're much less willing to give it a chance to take its time, to develop at its own speed. And every once in the while, the show runs over those peoples' feet with a riding lawn mower and shuts them up for a while.
Anytime they feel like sending the little girl off to boarding school, though, I'm totally behind it. She's turning out almost as annoying as the neighbor kid from season one.
Quote from: polkablues on September 22, 2009, 01:52:55 AM
Finally got a chance to watch it. Classic episode. Hopefully Obviously this will quell confirm the creeping consensus out there that this season is boring or somehow a step down from consistent with previous seasons. It's always been a show that moves at a deliberate RUG ON VALIUM pace, that will set something nothing up and only weeks later pay it off in the subtlest of ways, but people still seem to flip out if events unfold at any rate slower than an episode of 24. I blame DVD. When people actually have to wait a week between episodes, they're much less willing to give it a chance to take its time, to develop at its own speed. And every once in the while, the show runs over those peoples' feet with a riding lawn mower and shuts them up for a while. ZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
fixed.
if anything DVD is the only thing saving this show. i watched Deadwood and it suffered from a similar (though nowhere near as PAINFUL) "deliberate pace". if it weren't for the ease of watching the next episode instantly i too would have cancelled it in fewer than the three seasons it was allowed to slump through.
Or, just floating out another possibility here, the show is great and your Ritalin dosage is off.
for those who wanna revisit the lawnmower, over and over: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUmUygrqRG8
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.slashfilm.com%2Fwp%2Fwp-content%2Fimages%2Fmowerjpg.gif&hash=fd9fba10893176bfe51f294f32adc264d19da496)
I'm about 5 episodes into the first season and I find myself just wanting to get through the season. I'm not a fan of that era so maybe that's why it's not catching me but I'm gonna get through season one and two before I give up.
this show is really not that great.
Whaaat? Are attention spans just inherently lower for TV or is Polka right about some of you needing to recalibrate your ADD medication? This is the fastest hour on television right now. I have no idea what I was babbling about a page ago in this thread. It's not without its faults, and it's probably getting too many awards, but it's a smart show made for adults, which, need I remind everyone, is a rare thing for American TV.
Quote from: polkablues on September 22, 2009, 01:52:55 AMClassic episode.
Totally. My favorite moment (of many) was when Don shows up at the hospital for the guy who just lost his foot and sees Joan and her bloody dress...
"Oh my god."
"I know. It's ruined."
that's clever, but aside from the hilariously un-PC comments and chic glamour, the drama is not interesting enough to carry on for 3 seasons (I liked first season when everything was subtle and it seemed to be setting up for something big). I liked it when they do the innovative advertising stuff - always a sucker for a well-researched setpiece, but mostly the show just used those accounts as pretexts for scandalous sex. jon hamm is the hottest dude ever though, I agree with you there.
i guess this is the arrested development of television drama.
it's not that great. and being a smart show made for adults is no more credentials for greatness than a description for what they were trying to achieve. it's the kinda show, like AD, that gets mad following for what it's trying to do than what it's actually achieving. the problem is not so much attention span, but that i disagree with the premise that anything is better than nothing.
there are heaps of OK and decent shows, and a shitload of CRAP of course, but the best things that can be said about mad men need to be qualified.. for example that it's kinda original (in that there don't happen to be TOO many other shows like it at the moment), and that it's got a great deliberately paced plot (in that nothing much is happening and what does happen is quite repetitive but at least it looks pretty and there's nothing else on at the moment that would warrant my attention), and that john hamm is hot (in that he's a bit rough but suave and has lots of sex.. but i would hav to take chicks word for it cos i don't see it, he's about as appealing as his wife, bland city).
the kinda shows i would praise are ones that push the boundaries of what can be done with television. most recently the sopranos, which brought a calibre of story and character that is actually seldom seen, to which mad men is only a dim comparison (as far as complex characterisation). so there's that. it's just like i prefer my comedy to be poopingly hilarious, endlessly quotable, but also revealing of the human psyche.. which differs AD from prime Curb.
i'll agree that this season has produced some of the show's worst eps (last one not included), but i still love it a lot. there's a reason why i buy each season and rewatch nearly every episode multiple times/listen to both commentary tracks. i don't understand why you put up with it if it doesn't work for you on so many levels.
Quote from: picolas on September 24, 2009, 07:42:42 PM
i don't understand why you put up with it if it doesn't work for you on so many levels.
i don't, i stopped after the first season. like with AD.
and my life was better for it..
I just finished season 1.
It is slow paced yeah but I like that, although it took me a few eps to get into it. Jon Hamm does a great job.
--minor spoils s01e13--
There's an amazing scene (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tu-TO4WH2uo&feature=related) in the last episode that makes the whole season worth while, the one where Draper sells the wheel, it's written so beautifully and everything about it is perfect, from the flow of Draper's voice to the music and the superb editing.
Love the way he tells his life and makes it look so perfect and beautiful, but it's a lie to sell the product, he isn't the perfect husband and father, but wishes he were that man and he could have been, only to find out his family already left for the holyday when he got home.
I know I relate to EWS a lot of things but this scene reminded me a lot of Alice telling Bill about the naval officer's fantasy, the music while different in mood it feels alike as well as the editing, in the case of Mad Men going from Draper to the pictures of his family, with EWS going from Alice to Bill.
So, I've seen this scene many times now and I'm convinced it is plain a simple a work of art.
Last episode was also excellent. This season really got extra-amazing after the lawnmower incident.
Last night's was by far the best of the season, if not the entire series. Holy crap. It paid off so much, hell maybe too much. It's hard to imagine what they'll set up/leave hanging for the finale in a couple weeks.
S
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- Seeing Don finally crumble was amazing. Jon Hamm's Emmy episode for sure.
- That long sequence between Don and Betty, with teacher out in the car, goddamn was that masterfully done.
- Joan clobbering her douche husband with that vase was one of the most cathartic moments on the show. You could hear the collective cheer from the entire Mad Men audience at that moment
- Glad to see Roger finally getting screen-time. All his scenes were gold. I loved his exchange with Joan.
- The show is far from subtle with their metaphors (Halloween/masks being drawn) and although totally contrived, it's kind of fun how each pitch or product they work on directly comments on the overall theme of the episode. In this case, with the dog food company in serious need of rebranding ("the name is poision") being emblematic of Don's own identity issues.
It's the best show on TV. Every interview I see/read with Weiner only makes me respect it more. This season is pretty different in tone from the previous 2 but I trust him enough to let him lead me anywhere. I also feel like the last couple episodes have been knocking the closing shot out of the park.
"And who are you supposed to be?"
i've yet to read a really great weiner interview, but everything i've read makes me think he's super interesting. didn't see last night's episode, but i did see pete campbell coming out of a bar about a block from my house. dude was dressed like a mad man!
Quote from: modage on October 26, 2009, 10:44:31 AM
I also feel like the last couple episodes have been knocking the closing shot out of the park.
"And who are you supposed to be?"
completely agree with this.
"I'm maybe more forgiving than the audience is, because they love the feeling of saying sometimes, 'Oh, this is so disgusting, so disgusting. [But if] he'd knock my door right now I'd fuck him for an hour.'" —Matthew Weiner on viewers' love-hate relationship with Don Draper
Full interview here. (http://content.usatoday.com/communities/popcandy/post/2009/10/mad-men-1/1)
yeah that was an incredible episode. i lived through don draper. when he felt trapped out of nowhere i felt trapped out of nowhere. when he let everything out i felt a massive burden being lifted, but in its place a whole new series of questions and problems. this is what moving pictures are all about.
One of the greatest episodes of this season. When I heard Joan's Husband say he's going into the army as a surgeon and mentions vietnam, my heart went out to him.
we all must realize this season is all leading up to the kennedy assassination right? i wonder what they'll do with it.
They'll probably pin it on oswald...fucking idiots
Quote from: squints on October 27, 2009, 05:32:45 AM
we all must realize this season is all leading up to the kennedy assassination right? i wonder what they'll do with it.
like everything else, brilliant.
there is so much going on i cant believe there is only one episode left. and it was great how they did the teaser with scenes from older episodes and didn't show anything that will happen in the season finale.
i caught the JFK episode since my usual FBI Files wasn't on.
don't they put themselves in a little hole by giving the show an exact date (maybe they have done this throughout the series for all i know)?
it will cause a problem with the growing child actors i would think (unless they'll just throw a "my, you've really had a growth spurt" in there).
Quote from: bigideas on November 02, 2009, 09:32:51 AM
it will cause a problem with the growing child actors i would think (unless they'll just throw a "my, you've really had a growth spurt" in there).
No, because they have no guarantees how much time will pass between seasons and Weiner has no scruples about recasting the children, (Bobby is #6, Sally is #2).
Quote from: kal on November 02, 2009, 02:59:52 AM
and it was great how they did the teaser with scenes from older episodes and didn't show anything that will happen in the season finale.
I also noticed (and loved) this.
Quote from: modage on November 02, 2009, 09:36:03 AM
Quote from: bigideas on November 02, 2009, 09:32:51 AM
it will cause a problem with the growing child actors i would think (unless they'll just throw a "my, you've really had a growth spurt" in there).
No, because they have no guarantees how much time will pass between seasons and Weiner has no scruples about recasting the children, (Bobby is #6, Sally is #2).
[/quote]
Kinda like the National Lampoon Vacation children.
I'm predicting a huge jump in time next week! Maybe like 3 years or something.
Quote from: JG on November 02, 2009, 05:33:03 PM
I'm predicting a huge jump in time next week! Maybe like 3 years or something.
I didn't think of that. Could be very interesting but unlikely. Matthew Weiner loves details too much to skip through this whole mess and show us the outcome directly.
Last night's episode kind of sucked. The Kennedy thing brought everything to a screeching halt and wasn't nearly as emotionally impactful as it should have been. I don't buy Betty and the politician's affair at all, nor do I understand why he wants to marry her all of a sudden. Line deliveries continue to sound forced and over-rehearsed. And jesus christ who has been cutting these last few episodes. So many scenes are inexplicably truncated or interrupted for no rhyme or reason while other scenes just drag on and on. And why the fuck can't someone teach Matt Weiner how to effectively cut to a commercial. I've also had it with these filler moments of Don standing alone in the dark, making himself a drink, staring longingly out a window. Shit is tired and lazy.
I still love it though! :yabbse-grin:
Best Show On TV.
i guess someone on the show also bought that 4 disc Roy O compilation...that was possibly a track i was saving in my back pocket.
best self-contained episode of mad men yet.
the av club pointed this out and i think they're absolutely right: the brilliant thing about the finale is that we expected everything to go badly, but it was actually extremely optimistic, and lots of great things came out of the inevitable breakdown. maybe things will be okay after all... i LOVE subversively happy endings.
The hype was worth it. Man, what an episode. It was great to see Joanie back in the fold. The ending was strangely optimistic and it made my heart melt. I'm hoping they bring back salvatore and when they return for this summer (for season 4) I'm also hoping it will start in february 1964. The month The Beatles came to America....
Holy crap that was one of the most exhilarating finales I have ever seen. Fuck everything bad I've ever said about this show and fuck anyone who doesn't love it.
poor Kinsey.
'Mad Men' has not caught 'Lost' fever: no end date in sight, says AMC
Source: Los Angeles Times
The creator of "Mad Men" has created a mad stir with some innocuous comments he made at the National Association of Broadcasters convention last week.
As reported by no media outlets other than theweeklyblend.com, Matt Weiner apparently said that he could not see writing or continuing the advertising-centric series beyond its sixth season. The fourth season will premiere in July.
That came as a big surprise to fans, but no one was more surprised than the network that airs the show, AMC.
A spokeswoman for AMC assures that no end date has been set for the show and issued this statement on behalf of the network: "No one wants to see Don Draper wearing a leisure suit. We trust Matthew's vision and that he knows where to take the show. But with that said, M*A*S*H figured how to stretch the Korean War for more than a decade, so stay tuned! "
Quote from: MacGuffin on April 19, 2010, 06:56:10 PM
A spokeswoman for AMC assures that no end date has been set for the show and issued this statement on behalf of the network: "No one wants to see Don Draper wearing a leisure suit. We trust Matthew's vision and that he knows where to take the show. But with that said, M*A*S*H figured how to stretch the Korean War for more than a decade, so stay tuned! "
AMC's statement does nothing to dispell what the show's creator said. Wiener basically revealed that if the show DOES go past 6 seasons it will be guarranteed to be purely for the money. that may well hav been the reason he said anything in the first place, he's just playing hardball.
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg2.timeinc.net%2Few%2Fdynamic%2Fimgs%2F100621%2Fmad-men-season-4_510.jpg&hash=2dbf7c933b1e4e49605e93541a350fec8ab0bf15)
I do loves me some Helvetica.
this is kinda cool. if i were smithers i'd be head over heels about these, although they did fucked up don's face a bit, but i guess they have to make them look friendly:
http://www.barbiecollector.com/showcase/gallery.aspx?t=modern&y=s150206
We updated our site with some new clothes, backgrounds and accessories if you would like to Mad Men Yourself again (please!)
http://www.amctv.com/originals/madmen/madmenyourself/
Quote from: modage on July 01, 2010, 01:28:05 PM
We updated our site with some new clothes, backgrounds and accessories if you would like to Mad Men Yourself again (please!)
http://www.amctv.com/originals/madmen/madmenyourself/
I'm disappointed mod. Couldn't come up with new ideas?
We had a ton of original ideas but AMC didn't want to put up the cash unfort, so instead we got to do a little refresh. But still cool!
Season 4 premiere is good.
Quote from: modage on July 19, 2010, 08:20:31 PM
Season 4 premiere is good.
lucky bastard. can't wait!
There is not a single new clip of footage in any of the promos for season 4. Have they always done this? I know Weiner and Co. are crazy secretive, but I wonder if it's because this new season jumps way ahead in time or something.
They have always done this. Season 2 promos were GREAT (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRDQgW_QiBU) but was a special shoot (not season footage). 3 and 4 are just clips from previous seasons. Weiner won't let them release any footage until the premiere.
Just got the new Rolling Stone, which has a review of the premiere. Thought this quote was quite amusing and apt:
Quote from: Rolling StoneWhen Don talks about the creative side of advertising, he sounds uncannily like Burt Reynolds as the seventies porn king of Boogie Nights, who muses, "What keeps them in their seats even after they've come?
Episode 2 is REALLY good.
How are you seeing these episodes so early and why haven't you been inviting me?!
I get screeners for work because I work with AMC (http://www.amctv.com/originals/madmen/madmenyourself/). But I'm sworn to secrecy or Weiner will have my ass (http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2010/07/matthew_weiner_furious_about_m.html).
I'm just glad it was capitalized! :yabbse-undecided:
Thoughts on the Premiere?
It was odd seeing Don being stripped of his essence. But for the most part I loved the theme of as everything changes, the more it stays the same. It's hard to single out the first episode because you know that it's part of a much larger context.
I must be in the minority of finding the best part of the show is the story of Don's interrelationships. That's why I thought Season 3 was by far the strongest of the bunch. Rumor has it that we will be seeing more of the office as opposed to Don's personal life, which is a shame.
I love Nora Zehetner to an unhealthy degree, but she shouldn't try to do accents.
And will someone please finally get the balls to tell Matthew Weiner that his creepy kid is not an actor?!?
Quote from: polkablues on August 02, 2010, 11:21:39 PMAnd will someone please finally get the balls to tell Matthew Weiner that his creepy kid is not an actor?!?
seriously. it was okay for season 1, then in season 2 it got more than a bit awkward. and now it's like.. i'm not sure if they're writing him as a psychopath because that's what they
want to do or because it's their only option.
awesome season so far though. much better start than 3.
I would be totally cool with them casting his other son (http://www.gq.com/style/wear-it-now/200903/arlo-weiner-mad-men), though. That kid is a pimp.
Marten Weiner doesn't bother me too much, because I think he fits the character. Of course, I am under the impression the character is a complete psychopath.
I have this dread that they are going to start moralizing stories this season. They threatened it a bit last season when discussing about the bombing in Birmingham and civil rights in general. Luckily Betty put it back on the straight and narrow with the line, "I hate to say this, but this has really made me wonder about civil rights. Maybe it's not supposed to happen right now."
For such a well-cast show, a lot of the guest actors this season have really fallen short. The neighbor girl in tonight's episode was particularly obnoxious. Pretty sure she was a student of the University of Smugifornia at Smirkley.
i disagree. i totally bought don's mini-crush. and gosh i hope that's not the last we see of anna whitman. also this episode had a bunch of amazing jump cuts. godzilla, hilarious. and the stewardess on the plane, so tragic..
she was a good macguffin. the whole time i was thinking "surely don won't hit that" and then wham, the news.
the actress reminded me of a young elisabeth shue.
This was simultaneously one of the funniest and saddest episodes of Man Men yet. A few thoughts:
- I love how Jon Hamm is able to separate Don Draper and Dick Whitman so well. When Dick is with Anna you really see a totally different person.
- Don and Lane should get their own show. Holy crap they were hysterical. I need to watch that dinner/theater sequence again because I know I'm forgetting a ton of stuff, but the way they drunkenly screamed at one another from their offices was great. "You know what's going on here... handjobs."
- Love Joan episodes. Why do you think she was crying when Dr. McRapey was fixing her finger? Because her dream is dead? She seemed almost surprised when he fixed her finger, like she's surprised to learn he isn't as incompetent as a doctor as she assumed.
- "You're in advertising? It's pollution!" "Then stop buying things."
Loving this season so far. It's got a certain exuberance that much of last season lacked.
Hrm, I thought it was a little flat. I do agree with the notion that Jon Hamm does a good job differentiating Dick and Don. The handjobs line was pretty funny too.
I still don't think it's running up as good as season 3 (prove me wrong, Weiner!), but the unknown is what really catches my interest. The writers can go in so many directions this season.
the last three eps have been really good, but in last night's wow, all hell broke loose.
HUH?
man this season was sloooooooooooooooow. it's like they split the arc of an entire season into three and this was only that first part.
tv can be slow, but not this slow. by slow i mean very little payoff for giving a shit about the characters.
Disagree completely. Season 3 was admittedly a more difficult season to watch, Season 4 brought the hits week after week. I don't think the show has ever deviated from it's pace. It did not start with stuff happening and then "slow" down. I don't find it slow or boring at all. Ever.
What kind of payoffs were you hoping for?
Awfully close to shark-jumping this finale, but I have a feeling it's going to pull it off next season.
so if betty hadn't fired the help don probably wouldn't be engaged?
did you gather any symbolism from the final shot - leaving the bottle of wine and cup there?
Quote from: bigideas on October 18, 2010, 03:02:33 PM
so if betty hadn't fired the help don probably wouldn't be engaged?
interesting. hadn't thought of that. and that's why betty mentioned her that way to don. nice.
no clue where season 5 is gonna head but i'm just waiting for betty to off herself.
if cine says she's gonna off herself I better put money on it, seriously, Don is a fuck up and all but Betty really looks like she's about to fall in a sea of depression (probably already swimming in it), she's real close to lose it.
im with mod, on this season a lot of things happened week after week and I really liked the finale, if anything I expected a little more agency wise, but i guess bringing a new client means things could go well on that front next season.
she could do it because she doesn't have any redeeming qualities. nobody would be upset. so mechanically, it makes sense.. :yabbse-undecided:
Matt Weiner is very cautious of using death as a dramatic device. He knows a lot of other shows use it all the time to kill off characters but for Mad Men he only uses it if it makes sense. So far only Grandpa Gene and Mrs. Blankenship (unless I'm forgetting someone?) It was funny there was a lot of speculation before the finale about Roger committing suicide or Sally being killed, I think Betty is just as unlikely.
Listen to 60 min interview with Weiner here: http://media.kcrw.com/podcast/show_itms/tt
Roger is starting to become one of my favorite characters. His reaction to the engagement was priceless: "Who's that?"
Don is becoming more like Roger, which is also funny.
The finale was great. The agency stuff worked because it proved that they will survive for now and instead of worrying about it they are back in attack mode.
I also think the douche husband is going to leave Betty and she will try to commit suicide or something. It seems she is about to lose it completely any second.
Regardless of the finale, what I love is that once again we have no idea what to expect. There are so many possibilities for what will happen next season, and that is the beauty of this show pretty much after every season.
Matt Weiner: "These Are The Last Three Seasons Of 'Mad Men'"
Source: Deadline
"I'm thrilled," a happy Matt Weiner said in a phone interview shortly after his new three-year $30 million deal for Mad Men was announced. He is going back to work tomorrow, the writers room will get up-and-running in 4-5 weeks, and production on the much-delayed Season 5 of the Emmy-winning AMC drama will start in July, the same month the fifth season was originally slated to premiere.
But the deal almost didn't happen. "I walked away from it 4-5 times in the last few days," said Weiner who had been objecting to several proposals made by series producer Lionsgate TV and network AMC, including shortening the episodes' running time from 47 to 45 minutes to make room for more commercials, introducing more product placement, potentially reducing the number of regulars on the show and pushing Season 5's premiere to March 2012. "It's never been about money," Weiner said. "I wanted to do the show I wanted to do and the show the audience has come to expect."
Now, "the cast is safe from financial concerns" for all 3 seasons, Weiner said, adding that he reserves the right to cut actors "on creative basis."
In terms of product placement, Weiner said that there will be no changes to the series' existing policy. He noted that there have been only 3 instances of product placement in Mad Men's first four seasons. "I don't want the audience to feel they are being sold on the show," he said.
Additionally, Weiner will be able to continue to do 47-minute versions of Mad Men's 13-episode Season 5 for VOD, DVD and all auxiliary platforms, though on AMC, Episodes 2-12 will air 45-minute cuts made by Weiner. (The season premiere and finale will remain 47 minutes.)
The only thing Weiner and AMC couldn't agree on was the return date for Mad Men. Weiner had insisted on a 2011 Season 5 premiere but he said AMC had informed him back in October that, because they have 4 series to accommodate, no premiere before March 2012 would be possible.
While the pickup of Mad Men is for 2 more seasons, Weiner's 3-year deal with Lionsgate makes that essentially a 3-year renewal. "These will be the last 3 seasons" of the period drama, Weiner said. "I'm going to take it one year at a time without the distraction to ever have to go through this again," he added, referring to the long, tense renegotiations. "I'm incredibly grateful for the outpouring of support and overwhelmed that I get to finish telling the stories I want to tell."
Just finished season 1. It's good, real good.
But do you find it's really well written? Some of the writing i find borderline. But i notice that sometimes i will be critical of the writing of really good tv shows. I guess because i hold them to a higher standard, a film standard.
I can't understand peopl who say the show is slow? It's not slow at all, there are always 100 stories going on. I don'tget it, i almost find it too fast :shock:
Jon Hamm Extends Contract; Banana Republic Announces Mad Men Collection (http://blogs.amctv.com/mad-men/2011/06/press-roundup-0624.php)
i hate to gossip, but after watching the first episode of this show, i wandered over to imdb and looked at Christina Hendricks bio and found that she is married to someone just as disproportionate as a tina fey or cate blanchett are to their significant others. it isn't that i mind this, because it's a win for the egghead, but just look at this photo:
NSFW: http://www.imdb.com/media/rm622887168/nm0034309
and tell me who wins the title for the luckiest man alive....
I don't know, that's kind of... scary.
THAT IS FUCKING BULLSHIT! :yabbse-angry: :yabbse-angry: :yabbse-angry:
Rly?
the "snozzberries taste like snozzberries" mushroom tripping guy in the backseat in Super Troopers is banging Joan. That fucking sucks.
You're kidding, right? One, this isn't news, and two, it gives hope to dorky-looking guys everywhere.
I only started watching Mad Men recently, I'm into season 4. I'm considering being Joan for Halloween. I've been working on her voice while at work and I've been answering the phone by saying, "Sterling, Cooper, Draper, Pryce."
I had a dream last night that I interviewed at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce. I've been interviewing at various New York agencies lately so it makes sense.
It didn't go well.
Can someone tell me what will compel me to watch this show? I saw maybe the first four episodes and thought to myself "what's tying this show together? what's keeping me going?" I recall it feeling like a soap drama with outstanding production value, but there never seemed to be a central conflict.
Can anyone show me otherwise?
Quote from: O on October 12, 2011, 09:04:27 AM
Can someone tell me what will compel me to watch this show? I saw maybe the first four episodes and thought to myself "what's tying this show together? what's keeping me going?" I recall it feeling like a soap drama with outstanding production value, but there never seemed to be a central conflict.
It takes some time to develop, and it doesn't have constant cliffhangers or anything. Watch at least the first season and you'll see what the show is going for.
It's back. And I remember what I love about this show. It's like getting lost in a dream where you're transported to a different time. It's a different effect based on whether or not you were alive for the real thing. It's a dream heavy in atmosphere that makes you want to kick off your shoes and stay awhile. I was very conscious of this during the party scene, which in retrospect will be one of the best scenes of the series.
I don't think Don's falling anymore. He's floating by. I liked seeing him with his kids. He's settled into a bit of stability in every which way, but in his complacency he's big now in name only. Pete is the real big man, and I find myself rooting for him oddly even though in years past I hated him. Don's wife is hot. Yay for "Zou Bisou." And that scene on the floor when she was cleaning in her underwear. Wow. Roger's an asshole, but has earned it. Joan lights up the screen as always. I miss Sal. Random. It's been so long since I've seen this that I forget whatever happened to him. Need to go back and watch the Blu-Rays. I started when I got them cheap over winter, but got sidetracked and never followed through. Anyway, there's my stream of consciousness bs. Welcome back, show.
This was the most I've liked the show in a while. It was in danger of becoming a show that I respected more than I enjoyed, but that's all turning around if the premiere was any indication.
I'm not exactly sure what I felt after the premiere. It seemed like a lot of filler trying to catch the audience up to what the characters have been up to since the last season ended, which I guess was necessary. The laid back attitude of Don was a surprise, but I am completely confident that it is only temporary.
I guess I didn't take much from this episode, but I am curious to see how Lane develops throughout the series. I think he has been underused.
I liked the premiere but I can understand why even avid fans were bored by it. I'm all for deliberate pacing but good christ, you have a 2 hour episode and your A-plot is Don pouting because he hates surprise birthday parties. Lane finds a wallet and um, returns it. There were some fantastic set pieces and hysterical bits with Roger. I just hope there's some real stakes to this season that don't involve the agency going under again or being bought out.
Were you guys watching the same episode that I was watching? I saw a LOT going on with plenty of stakes.
DON IS HAPPY! What the fuck is going on? He doesn't care about his job, he DOES care about his woman! It seems he's not Don anymore, he's Dick (who seemed to have secretly been a good guy).
I think that Pete Campbell is the one to watch this season. He's the only one moving with the times. He's getting sick of the old fashioned mentality of the company... he also seems to be the only one taking the company's future seriously (other than Peggy).
Here's how much on the hook this show has me: I gasped out loud when we found out that Megan knew about Dick Whitman. GASPED. "Stakes" on this show means something very different than on Breaking Bad or The Wire.
Also, who noticed the parallels between the little power-play sex game when Megan was cleaning the floor in her underwear and the Glo-Coat commercial that Don won an award for last season? This show is to mommy issues what Lost was to daddy issues.
I wrote an epic 3000 word "Mad Men" piece for The Playlist! Please read and um, proofread...
http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/when-is-everything-going-to-get-back-to-normal-we-look-ahead-at-the-upcoming-season-of-mad-men
Did I leave anything important out?
Great Writeup! Thanks
I'm very interested to see where they go with Pryce this year, in a show packed with great characters he's my favorite to watch.
Quote from: ddiggler on March 27, 2012, 04:14:34 PM
I'm very interested to see where they go with Pryce this year, in a show packed with great characters he's my favorite to watch.
I'm intrigued by the confluence of his marital dissatisfaction and the imminent hiring of a black secretary. Let's not forget who his favorite waitress at the Playboy Club was.
And that is a great article, mod. I have to ask, though; does some small part of you die inside every time the Playlist forces you to write in the plural first-person? Every royal "we" like another little dagger to your heart?
Ha ha, I've gotten used to it for the most part. It's easier for feature type pieces like this than it is for reviews where you have to figure out how to reword something or use the clunkier "this writer."
Why are you disappointed to see Pete in the suburbs? I'm super excited by where his character is at, emotionally and geographically.
Quote from: modage on March 27, 2012, 04:36:48 PM
Ha ha, I've gotten used to it for the most part. It's easier for feature type pieces like this than it is for reviews where you have to figure out how to reword something or use the clunkier "this writer."
considering the amount of typos and grammatical errors often found in playlist articles, getting rid of the hivemind pluralisation and just sticking to normal-sounding "i" would actually be an improvement.
Finally got through with rewatching the entire series and got to watch the first two episodes of season five.
I didn't care for the premiere episode. I think a previous post mentioned it had too much filler. that was the same impression that I got. this was an hour long episode stretched out to two hours. But I read a comment where someone mentioned that this was an reintroduction to mad men. It's been off for so long this episode was meant to reintroduce us to the world of mad men. in hindsight it does seem that's what it was. There was just too much of non mad men-esque things in the episode. Roger calling out "there's my baby" when he sees Joan but is carrying his secret child. Or Pete's look when Peggy is pushing the stroller. And too many of Roger's jokes. I just watched the entire series so didn't need the reintro so I didn't care for the reintro approach.
I think the first two episodes have set up the theme or direction of this season. I think it's going to be about the changing of the guards. Or the Up and coming challenging the old guard.
Roger is clearly feeling the pressure from Pete. We saw last season with Roger's fall and Pete's rise with a hint of things to come. Roger lost his one account the most important account at the agency in Lucky Strike. Pete used his news of Trudy's pregnancy into getting all of his father's business. I could see Roger trying sneak his way onto an account like this. The difference is Pete. In the beginning, Pete was "the Kid" who was always overreaching. In the pilot, Pete tried to challenge Don in a very similar way with Lucky Strike. Pete "I have ideas too" He even pitched them an idea that Don rejected. But I don't think anyone on the show or the audience saw Pete as a threat to Don. Now, we all have seen Pete grow and is now a serious threat to Roger. Even after Roger was able to push his way onto the account Pete only pushes back embarrassing Roger. Pete knows his power and willing to use it. a couple of years ago instead of pushing back against roger, Pete would have just wined to Trudy or Don
Don is getting old and turning forty with his white beard of shaving cream and his fear of the rolling stones' influence on young people. Don seems to be the happiest we've seen him outside his trips to cali visiting Anna. There also seems to be a lack of interest or focus on his work. He doesn't seem to be on his game. He went along with the client's idea of using the rolling stones' as a jingle. The idea Roger said was "Client's idea if he's ever heard one." In the past, how many times has Don gone along with a Clients idea? Not many. Is this because he's getting old or is he off his game and distracted? The scene of Don standing backstage suggest it's age. First, Don and Harry couldn't get backstage. But the young pot smoking girl was able to get backstage. This is the opposite of season one when the cops are outside Midge's apartment. Don is able to leave in front of the cops where Midge and her pot smoking friends had to hide inside the aptarment. We have seen Don have these conversations with young girls before but in this scene backstage the girls looked so much younger than Don. The scene was also important cause these young girls were the ones in control or power over Don and Harry. The girl knew the Rolling Stones would never do that commercial a fact Don only knew afterwards. Don has had to deal with the younger generation. "young people don't know anything, especially that they're young." He was forced into hiring Smitty and Smitty to have some young creative. But they were never a threat to Don. but is Don more vulnerable now?
How long does Don's new found happiness stay? Don is always looking for the exit but maybe he expects this to last since he's told Megan about his Past. One of the last things Dr Miller said to Don last season referring to the news of his engagement was "I hope she knows you only like the beginning of things." this is important cause Dr Miller was also the one who told Don he would be married within a year at the beginning of season four.
Peggy hires the very talented copy writer against the advice of Stan to go with a mediocre copy writer so you don't have to worry about your job. Peggy is very hip and young in her personal life but not in her work. She is tied to Don creatively and professionally. Also, She came off as a prude being so worried how the new eccentric copy writer was going to be viewed by Don.
Joan is scared of being replaced when she sees the ad in the paper.
and is anyone surprised that Betty is jealous of Don's new 25 year old wife but who Betty tells her friend is 20. While Betty was awaiting the results, there was a lot of talk about Betty being replaced as the mother of Don's children by Megan. The older Don knows how upsetting this must be for Betty while it's lost on the young Megan. Megan's lack of comprehension of being replaced is similar to peggy and her willingness to hire someone talented.
I think its a great start for a season. It'll be great to see some conflict arise other than a merger or being sold or losing account being lost as being the big conflict. You can't write a letter and put it in the times and make yourself younger. Sorry. I didn't mean to write so much. I can't sleep. does anyone know why the first episode was called the Kiss? Unless it has to do with the lyrics to the song Megan sung, I am at a complete loss or missed the meaning to the name.
So Don's hallucinating affairs and moider~! (hot), Peggy's scheming and helping the po' black folk, and Sally is making friend with the creepy old woman. I kinda dug their interaction, though at first I shuddered at the path I thought it was going to take. I do love seeing these old generation mindsets juxtaposed with the forward thinking of a child like Sally. As forward as it is, it can't quite get beyond the boogeymen in the closet. All children inevitably sleep at the feet of their caregivers in light of such dangers. Yay for Joan for kicking her creep husband to the curb. Now for Roger to do the same for his SO -- though right now Joan deserves better. If only t'were that simple. Though it unreeled slower for me (I kept pausing) I enjoyed it thoroughly. At one point it seems as if Joan's mother and Sally's caregiver looked similar +/- 100 pounds. I don't think there was anything to that. Random. Bygones. My wishes: More Sally, More Peggy, more of Don decomposing into a sloppy, sick mess. That's the ticket.
So Joan and her husband had sex in a reasonable window in order for him or Roger to be the father, or the husband just never thought about it or brought it up? Her mom? Or am I forgetting something?
Quote from: tpfkabi on April 09, 2012, 08:32:46 PM
So Joan and her husband had sex in a reasonable window in order for him or Roger to be the father, or the husband just never thought about it or brought it up? Her mom? Or am I forgetting something?
It's Roger's baby. She got pregnant by Roger something like seven weeks after she last saw her husband. The husband either believes it's his baby or doesn't want admit it's not his. Roger had a line last season about a bunch of GI's coming home to find a baby but never doing the math.
It almost seemed like Joan was hoping he would tell her he cheated on her while he was overseas so she could ease her guilt, but after she threw the rape in his face I suppose she didn't feel guilty about it at all.
Quote from: ddiggler on April 09, 2012, 10:39:49 PM
It almost seemed like Joan was hoping he would tell her he cheated on her while he was overseas so she could ease her guilt, but after she threw the rape in his face I suppose she didn't feel guilty about it at all.
Like Christina Hendricks in real life, Joan could do better. How did he get her in both cases. In the beginning, Greg was a nice guy on his way to a successful job. It turns out he's not nice but insecure to the point he'll rape his fiance and loose his chance at becoming chief resident. The real question is now that they seem to be getting a divorce does she tell Greg the truth or go on telling him he's the father of the baby? Telling him the truth can be devastating especially to a guy going back to Vietnam for a year.
Quote from: Brando on April 09, 2012, 10:27:38 PM
Quote from: tpfkabi on April 09, 2012, 08:32:46 PM
So Joan and her husband had sex in a reasonable window in order for him or Roger to be the father, or the husband just never thought about it or brought it up? Her mom? Or am I forgetting something?
It's Roger's baby. She got pregnant by Roger something like seven weeks after she last saw her husband. The husband either believes it's his baby or doesn't want admit it's not his. Roger had a line last season about a bunch of GI's coming home to find a baby but never doing the math.
Thanks. I haven't watched the episodes since the original airing.
I don't think I had heard The Crystals original version of He Hit Me. Now I wonder what other kinda dark stuff Spector produced.
Is it just me or was this one of the strangest Mad Men episodes ever? If this episode followed the first two hour episode premiere/pilot I would have called that Mad Men jumped the shark. It was minutes into this episode I thought it felt strange. I kept thinking a character would wake up or something strange would happen to justify the weirdness of the episode. It turned out to be some kind of Pete's episode but in the end didn't make much sense. I plan to rewatch it and maybe make a better argument.
I think its just you.
Quote from: Tictacbk on April 16, 2012, 03:09:30 PM
I think its just you.
I've come to realize that. The episode's execution felt strange to me for some reason.
don draper fixing the sink was for women what megan's zou bisou bisou was for men.
hott.
I rewatched last weeks episode. It was the direction of the episode that threw me off not the writing which I originally thought. John Slattery has directed episodes before but his direction of last week threw me off. I felt it was a heavy handed direction along with the blocking threw me off cause it was so close to this season's premier which was too heavy handed as well.
I did notice some things on the second viewing of last week's episode. The dinner between Ken, Pete and Don had much more importance. First, the talk of the sniper in Texas played a more important role than I thought. I had to look it up to make sure but the sniper's name was Charles Whitman. On August 1st, 1966 Charles Whitman killed 16 and wounded 32 during his shooting rampage. This is important cause his last name is Whitman which is Don's real last name which during the conversation Don corrects when someone forgets the assassin's real name. It becomes more important when it is revealed during the dinner that Ken Cosgrove has a secret identity just like Don. A secret identity which is revealed to Sterling by Pete the same way in season 1 Pete revels Don's secrete identity to Cooper. It also turns out that Charles Whitman's father was a plumber. Maybe that is a stretch but it's the Whitman in the group who is able to fix Pete's plumbing issue. Along with Pete's admiration of Don through out the scene and his idea of a fridge in the garage, the scene seems to highlight how similar these characters are though they seem very different.
Tonight was an interesting episode. Prior to this season the characters and the story was what important to Mad Men and this season has allowed the direction and writing to be more prevalent in the story telling. I was so harsh after last week's episode I want to wait till I see this episode again till I can comment on it properly.
I am LOVING this season. Two incredible episodes back-to-back, each operating on a level of ambition seen previously only at the very zeniths of the show. I am GIDDY to see how the hell the rest of the season can even begin to proceed, much less conclude.
Agreed. Love the way the episode played with structure and that the show is breaking out of whatever confines we've come to expect from it. I thought ep 2 this season was the worst in the show's history so am incredibly relieved that it was an anomaly and not the beginning of a downward trend. Don has been in the background throughout most of this season so far, unengaged at work and overinvolved with Megan so I'll be curious to see if the rest of the season swings back around to place him at the center of the show.
There's an overhanging feeling of dread and terror this season that almost rivals Breaking Bad.
Quote from: ©brad on April 23, 2012, 10:58:00 AM
There's an overhanging feeling of dread and terror this season that almost rivals Breaking Bad.
I agree with that but I think it's closer to the kind of dread created by Six Feet Under. When Don first got back to the diner and realized Megan left with some young guys, I immediately thought of Lisa from Six Feet Under. The flashback to Don driving Megan and the kids home after their trip at the end of season 4 did not help. I tried to tell myself they wouldn't do that to Megan but didn't work. The structure of the episode did a lot too for the building that feeling.
I don't know how I went through that entire episode without realizing that Megan's mom was Julia Ormond.
First, last week it was nice to see Roger to be interested in his job other than just drink and bitch. He was becoming a caricature of a caricature. The best part was that Roger was genuinely interested in becoming better at his job rather than just to screw Pete over. I like that Don has been forced to face he hasn't been doing his job well. Cooper told him he was on "Love Leave" and last week Cosgrove's father-in-law told him none of the people would work with him cause he bit the hand that fed him.
Tonight, Megan quits and Don looses a substitute for the type of relationship he wants from Peggy. I don't think Don wants to sleep with Peggy but there is definitely some Freudian things between those two. Hopefully, two weeks of Don being told he's not doing his job as great as he thinks and his distraction leaving the office will get him focused. Don continues to grow older not able to listen to the Beatles. Finally, I've read a lot of talk about people predicting that Pete is going to die or commit suicide this season. This season has been different. Directing and writing has been more at a forefront than previous seasons. I would have never thought they would foreshadow anything but now not sure. Tonights episode with continued focused on Pete's unhappiness while him mentioning suicide could be foreshadowing. Then you add that scene of Don calling that elevator but the doors opening and the elevators not there. Is that setting up something for the future? Pete calls the elevator but doesn't see it's not there and falls or does sees it's not there and kills himself?
Peggy's leaving was surprising even after it was hinted at it earlier in the season. I did love her smile at the end right before she got on the elevator after quitting. It's sad to think of her as one of the many characters we will only see a little of in the future and might not have a big as a role.
Once Don fired Lane I immediately thought about the dread that has hovered over this season. Others mentioned it and I think I might have said it was similar to the dread of Six Feet Under in a previous post. Then add it to the talk of Pete killing himself by a lot of people online. But then I realized how Mad Men never goes the way you are trained to think as a viewer but rather realizes that and plays on that knowledge. I actually forgot about Lane's story until the secretary showed up in Joan's office and I realized he went through with it. How they handled the suicide of Lane shows how wonderful the writers of Mad Men tackle these plots. Any other show would have Lane attempting suicide but the car failing which the whole season they talked about how unreliable Jaguar is both funny and a motive not to kill himself. If you're going to kill yourself, a unreliable car isn't going to stop you. I also liked they didn't over do it.
I also just realized this is the second time Don has offered someone money to runaway to restart their life just like he did. He did it with his half brother who also hanged himself and then with Lane who he offered to cover the 7500 but also hanged himself.
Quote from: ddiggler on March 27, 2012, 04:14:34 PM
I'm very interested to see where they go with Pryce this year, in a show packed with great characters he's my favorite to watch.
well, shit.
Spoilers...
Quote from: Brando on June 04, 2012, 01:53:56 AM
But then I realized how Mad Men never goes the way you are trained to think as a viewer but rather realizes that and plays on that knowledge.
This is actually why Lane's suicide bothered me. I feel like I saw his death coming a mile away, and once Don demanded his resignation (which also seemed a bit out of character if you ask me) suicide seemed clear. When they introduced his story line weeks ago I had thought Lane would die some other way and all the toying with finances he was doing behind closed doors would start to pop up and screw SCDP. In this episode once Cooper found the check and Don confronted him, suicide seemed like the obvious choice, but also the least interesting one.
The fact that his wife bought a Jag that same day with a check seemed all too convenient as well. Everything struck me as going through the motions to get to Lane hanging himself.
I feel like I'm the only person in the world who found this episode mediocre.
...I did like everything with Don and Roger though. Glen still sucks (but the ending was great).
No word on the finale? I thought it featured the best shot of the entire series (Don walking away from Megan) and I loved that cut to credits. Overall I've found the show way more interesting since it left the old building (and sidelined Betty), but losing Lane felt a little off to me. That seemed like a plotline for a lesser show.
Quote from: Tictacbk on June 05, 2012, 02:03:30 PM
This is actually why Lane's suicide bothered me. I feel like I saw his death coming a mile away, and once Don demanded his resignation (which also seemed a bit out of character if you ask me) suicide seemed clear.
I saw it coming too but it was because the entire season had a thread of death/suicide throughout the entire season. There were constant talk or references to murder and death and suicide. Don drawing a noose in his notes, or saying he would blow his brains out if he had to live in the suburbs, Pete mentioning the company's insurance covered suicide. Then all the references to murder and death like the sniper or nurse murders or Don killing the woman in his fever dream.
That's why I felt I saw it coming because it was foreshadowed. Foreshadowing an event does seem out of character for Mad Men but this season Mad Men did things that were out of character. If this plot line happened in a previous season, I would have never thought of Lane committing suicide. I never thought of Salvatore committing suicide when he was fired.
Quote from: ddiggler on June 13, 2012, 04:18:01 PM
I thought it featured the best shot of the entire series (Don walking away from Megan) and I loved that cut to credits.
That reminds me this season hasn't used the famous mad men shot this season(not that I can remember) of the slow pull out to end the show which was a mad men staple. I thought that scene was the last shot/scene of the season. To save that shot and to use it at that moment was brilliant. To use that shot of him walking away from Meagan with the pullout then go to the scene in the bar with the girl asking him if he is alone was great.
Quote from: ddiggler on June 13, 2012, 04:18:01 PM
No word on the finale? I thought it featured the best shot of the entire series (Don walking away from Megan) and I loved that cut to credits.
yeah that shot is fantastic, and the use of You only live twice was perfect (and I thought that tomorrow never knows couldn't be topped), as I was watching it I realized it a was an epic moment, and yes that cut to black was perfect too.
actually I had to see that ending a few times, couldn't get enough of it, although I began seeing it when Don is watching Megan's reel, which was also an amazing scene.
let's relive that ending:
lol @ those dogs humping.
Quote from: ddiggler on June 13, 2012, 04:18:01 PM
Overall I've found the show way more interesting since it left the old building (and sidelined Betty), but losing Lane felt a little off to me. That seemed like a plotline for a lesser show.
agree except I hope next season we have more Betty.
"Mad Men" is back. I loved it.
http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/review-mad-men-returns-with-a-confident-2-hour-premiere-that-proves-its-still-the-best-show-on-tv-20130407
Becoming convinced if it can *just* keep this up for 2 more seasons it will top "The Sopranos" and "The Wire" as the best Drama of the modern age. It's already entering uncharted territory at this point entering Season 6(!) and being so good. Fingers crossed.
All the death symbolism rivaled the politics in Killing Them Softly in the subtly department. We're in for another dark season.
- I don't think the two-hour format works for this show, especially with this many commercials breaks (dear god were there this many during last season's two-hour premiere?) The pace, which is already refreshingly restrained, turns glacial in two hours.
- This is the first time in the series I've truly hated Don. His existential angst seems completely self-indulgent. I trust Weiner and know he comes from the Sopranos school of people never really change. We'll see.
- "Did it make you think of suicide?" "Of course, that's what's so great about it!" Best line of the night.
- Lots of callbacks to earlier episodes, the carousel being the most potent. We learned those beautiful images of Don and Betty were just a mirage, and such is now the case with Megan.
- Getting out of a segment and into commercials has never been smooth for this show and last night was no exception. Some of the editing from scene to scene was surprisingly sloppy.
- I loved Peggy's storyline, even if it didn't seem to sync up thematically with the others. You can see Don's influence on the way she does business. Her killing herself over that ad only to succeed brilliantly in the end felt like Don's lucky strike epiphany in the pilot. I also thought Peggy and Stan having their late-night chats was one of the sweetest scenes this show has ever done. Stan has evolved into one of my favorite side characters.
I'm so happy this show is back.
It does look like another dark season. I think that is something to expect for the rest of the series.
Last season was dark and morbid with it's concentration on murder, mass shootings and suicide. This season's darkness seems to be coming from the characters dealing with their own and others mortality. "All I'm going to be doing from now on is losing everything."
It seems the characters have adjusted to the darkness cause last year they were frightened. Sally now jokes about the death of her friend's mother when last year she stayed up all night after reading the paper about nurse murders. Multiple people were afraid to go to parts of the city due to the riots. Now Betty is willing to go there alone. I think the scene where Betty helps the squatters cook perfectly illustrates the characters' acceptance of this new world they're living in. Previously, Betty would never have even acknowledge these people exist but now she's helping them. It's actually funny to see the squatters berate Betty and to dismiss her as you would have expected her to do.
It's nice to see Peggy doing well. You had to expect that she would turn into Don. She only lacks the confidence in her own brilliance.
The carousel was a great callback. The biggest thing I noticed was Don's reaction to the photos. He didn't seem to have any emotional connection to the photos. It's a huge difference from last season when Don was so in love that it was hurting his work.
Don not showing up at his mistress' until end of the show felt like a callback to the pilot. You spent the entire pilot not knowing he had a family while he slept around then the show ends with him going home. That makes more sense when you combine it with Peggy's storyline referencing the pilot and the carousel referencing the last episode of season 1.
Great Roger episode.
Betty spicing things up by offering to hold down a 15 year old girl while her husband rapes her was shocking but Betty has always been a little off.
Anyone have thoughts on the lighter?
Is there anything about it that exposes his past?
I don't believe I ever saw the first couple seasons, so I don't pick up on any early show references.
Quote from: tpfkabi on April 08, 2013, 02:53:56 PM
I don't believe I ever saw the first couple seasons, so I don't pick up on any early show references.
If you are serious, that is INSANE.
Speaking of Sopranos, how about Little Carmine making an appearance?
So happy this is back. I haven't watched any TV in months.
Quote from: modage on April 08, 2013, 03:08:27 PM
Quote from: tpfkabi on April 08, 2013, 02:53:56 PM
I don't believe I ever saw the first couple seasons, so I don't pick up on any early show references.
If you are serious, that is INSANE.
I wasn't interested in any AMC original series until I got into Breaking Bad via a S1 marathon before S2, I believe.
Through all the morbidness, I forget how funny this show can be. Roger rubbing his secretary's back with the two glasses, Harry awkwardly running up the stairs, Peggy's phone conversation with the pastor, the cranky old woman at the memorial service, Betty's cunty mother in law, these bits are really tough to pull off while still maintaining the tone of the show. I don't really mind the 2 hour run time, even though there were too many commercial breaks (there was no need for the episode to go over 7 minutes), this is still a show I don't mind getting lost in.
Mad Men's Alison Brie is Awesome (Speakeasy) with Paul F. Tompkinsshe's adorable. btw......spoils S06E02
im glad she dumped pete (sort of)
also how Don fucked with that fat jaguar asshole's idea...
SPOILERS...
Trudy's smackdown of Pete was spectacular, and the best thing about the episode.
Great recap from NYMAG on last night's episode. I'm sure Weiner will make me eat my words come mid-season but right now Don is the most frustrating he's ever been.
Can Don Draper ever find peace?
(http://www.vulture.com/2013/04/mad-men-recap-season-6-to-have-and-hold-heinz.html)Source: NYMAG
That's a legitimate question, I guess, and one that's still very much in play on Mad Men. But when Sylvia implied at the end of last night's episode that she wanted peace for Don, and even prayed for it — Don Draper, a.k.a. Dick Whitman the impostor, a.k.a. the guy shtupping Sylvia when her husband is away, a.k.a. the guy behaving like a petulant brat when his actress wife gets a juicy soap-opera plotline that involves love scenes, a.k.a. the guy who once said that love was invented by guys like him to sell nylons, a.k.a. the miserable bastard who projects his unhappiness outward — you have to ask if he even deserves it, or if by this point we should care if he achieves it.
Yes, I'm growing a bit impatient with my beloved Mad Men — with Don, at least. Granted, this is a slow-burn show in the mode of the last big drama that creator Matthew Weiner worked on, The Sopranos, so I still hold out hope that the writers are arranging pieces that'll all come together in the season's back-half — something to do with abortion or a Don Draper health crisis, I'm betting. (During Megan and Don's dinner with the swingers, Don was warned off cigarettes yet again; they're averaging one anti-tobacco reference per episode now.) And yet ... is it me, or does the show itself seem somewhat bored with Don? I'm not terribly intrigued right now, and not just because season five's stirring and mysterious final sequence — Don leaving Megan on the soundstage while the theme to "You Only Live Twice" played, passing through what almost felt like a time portal and taking a seat at a bar, where a young woman asked, "Are you alone?" — felt like a series ender, a way of saying, "Don Draper will never change. You know where things go from here, audience, so we don't really need to keep going." And then they did.
Luckily Don wasn't at the center of 'To Have and To Hold." As written by Erin Levy and directed by Michael Uppendahl, this was a true ensemble episode that divided its attention almost equally among several major characters.
Joan painted the town with her debauchery-craving Mary Kay–saleslady pal Kate in an evening that climaxed at the hippy-trippy nightclub the Electric Circus, and got shot down during a power struggle at work. The latter felt like the first overt sign that even though Joan is the first woman in the firm's history to be named a full partner, the sordid circumstances behind her promotion ensure that she'll never be treated as the men's equal. What a rotten catch-22: the whip-smart Joan lets herself be whored out for one night for the greater good of the company and her child's financial security, then can't reap the full rewards of her sacrifice because that same company now thinks of her as an opportunist who slept her way to the top. In their drowsy next-morning conversation — bird's-nest hair, smeared mascara — Joan admits to Kate that "I've been working there for fifteen years, and they still treat me like a secretary." Harry Crane treats her as something far worse. Rebelling against Joan's attempts to fire his secretary over a time-card cover-up involving the eager-to-please Dawn, Harry directs his long-simmering professional resentments toward Joan. This subplot's peak finds Harry crashing a partners' meeting and demanding a seat at the table because his own achievements, unlike Joan's, happened by the light of day. (Joan's contributions to the firm go way beyond that, but of course Harry can't or won't see that because he's blinded by professional insecurity and male privilege.)
Dawn's involvement in the fracas was meant to illuminate her character, but it didn't — not really. Thanks to clumsy dialogue that informed rather than illuminated, it mostly gave us a sense of what it's like to work at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce (a place where you hear people crying behind office doors and where one of the senior partners hanged himself in shame) rather than what it's like to be Dawn, seemingly the only African-American employee in a white workplace, and a kindhearted woman who seemingly spends every day tamping down a persistent fear of being ostracized or fired. I liked how Joan's impulsive decision to entrust Dawn with handling time cards and office supplies signaled an official separation from her own secretarial past, but this scene was ultimately about Joan, not Dawn. I can't really give Mad Men any points for trying to turn Dawn into a full-fledged character at this point — not after they introduced her at the start of season five with such flourish that it seemed as if the season would have something to do with civil rights, then pretty much forgot all about her, save for a subplot in the episode "Mystery Date" that was more about the characters' collective fear of random violence and Peggy struggling with passive-aggressive white liberal racism. (I did appreciate Roger's rationale for not letting Joan fire her — not that she would have anyway: Cutting Dawn loose might have poured fuel on prejudice complaints against the industry.)
Megan seems to be making a go of it as an actress, but at the expense of her marriage, or what's left of it. Don is an identity thief who's essentially acting for his very life, so you'd think he could handle the idea of his wife kissing another man in love scenes that Megan described as "tasteful" (meaning "daytime soap circa 1968"). But no. There are cracks in Don's façade of libertine selfishness, and when you peek through them, you can see vestiges of a Ward Cleaver or Gregory Peck type. The producer's dinner-table pitch that Don and Megan come home with his wife, smoke pot, and swing made Don deeply uncomfortable; this tracks with what we know about Don, particularly his evident disgust with beatnik or hippie signifiers of "freedom." (He'll smoke pot with other people for the same reason that other people will have a drink with him — to be social — but I don't get the impression that he thinks marijuana signifies a particular worldview.)
Like a lot of men, Don thinks he should be entitled to do what he likes while the women in his life adhere to certain codes of propriety. He's banging the doctor's wife one floor below them, but he doesn't want Megan to play loves scenes because they make him jealous! There are also women-as-property issues at play here. Don is attracted to intellectually and sexually independent women (Sylvia is only the latest), but there's a part of him that wants to crush or neuter those same qualities and turn the objects of his affection into Stepford Wives like Betty. Megan is rebelling against that impulse. I'm guessing that sooner or later she'll feel the full force of Don's wrath, which is that of a square-jawed, broad-shouldered child who's furious that he can't have cookies whenever he wants.
At least this thoroughly irritating and rather depressing plotline led to one of those multi-valent Mad Men moments that remind us of how great the show can be: After Don and Megan's dressing-room confrontation, Don visits Sylvia, her availability signaled by a penny under the doormat, and lays her down on the bed with the same ritualized motion that that actor used on Megan in their love scene. It's as if Don is imaginatively reasserting his dominion over Megan by becoming that actor — which means that in his mind, Sylvia, who seems to be falling ever-deeper in love with Don, is "playing" the role of Megan; there are at least two, maybe three levels of playacting going on in this scene, which lends additional irony to Sylvia's statement that she wishes peace for Don. She's really wishing peace for Dick Whitman, the "real" Don Draper, a man she hasn't met yet, and who appears to be lowering himself into Dante's hell one ring at a time.
The major workplace story line dealt with the agency's backdoor pitch for Heinz Ketchup, whipped up by Don and Stan in a storage closet and presented in a hotel suite booked by Pete Campbell. It didn't lead anywhere for SCDP. Ted Chaough's agency — which pitched the same day, acting on inside information gleaned by Peggy during a supposedly "private" phone call with Stan — didn't make any headway either: J. Walter Thompson swept in and got the account, which of course means that Heinz must've called them up and said, "Hey, we've already got two agencies pitching us — you might as well stop in and try your luck, too." It's a moot point now, but I think Peggy's clean, simple "Heinz is the only ketchup" pitch was better than Don's artsy-fartsy absent-presence one, which, like his footprints-in-the-sand pitch in the season premiere, said more about Don Draper's mental state than it did about the product he was theoretically selling. Not to give advice to the master, but at this point I think Don's pitches could use more P.T. Barnum and less Antonioni.
My favorite thing in this episode was Harry's blustering bid for more power. He's an inherently comical character, thanks mainly to Rich Sommer's non-condescending performance; the poor bastard is always on the verge of dignity yet never achieves it. Here, though, I felt he made a lot of valid points, even though he expressed them in alternately self-serving and self-defeating ways. Roger seemed to respect his guts, if not his actual accomplishments. That's why he and Bert Cooper gave him a check for $23,500, the amount of his commission on the Joe Namath variety show that he dreamed up and sold to napalm manufacturers Dow Chemical. ("That was the most impressive thing he's done," Bert said Harry stormed out.) I wouldn't be surprised if Harry left the firm and ended up working alongside Peggy. Ted has already demonstrated a knack for identifying talented people that Don and company have failed to appreciate and giving them the respect they feel they've earned.
One thing I'm taking into account when watching this season is that the writers can see the end coming. It's been stated that the next season will be it's last. I don't see Don ever finding Peace. I see him becoming more and more unlikable as the show continues. After each and every step Don seems to make to better life he slides back to his old self. The only thing that might save him if he gives up being Don and moves to cali to live as Dick.
The NYMAG recap mentioned how Don is interested in intellectual and sexually independent women. He's only interested in them as affairs cause he isn't willing to give them power over him. I think they simplified Don's reasoning for being mad at Megan. It's simplified to say he just wants a stepford wife. It's because whenever he's given up control or power in a relationship with a women she has left him. Betty left Don after finding out who he really is. Megan left her job at the agency after Don helped got her a job in creative. Peggy left him in the same way. I'm surprised the recap didn't mention how Don after seeing Peggy went straight from the diner to the set. Last season, Don did all he could to make Megan into a Peggy clone. He goes to the set to find a clone of himself seducing Megan.
Up until last night I felt something has been off this season. I can't exactly put my finger on it, but last night the show went from crawling to a full-on sprint. The fifth episodes of each season are always propulsive. Same on Breaking Bad.
I'm not sure how I feel about the merger, which everyone saw coming a mile away. I was liking Peggy more as a competitor to Don. Certainly there will be all kinds of ego-colliding drama with this other agency coming in. I guess it was inevitable, but I didn't expect it so soon.
One thing that ran false for me is the Chevy pitch (which we conveniently never see). How can a client as big as GM hand over reigns of their account to two small agencies who on a whim decided to merge the night before? That is a huge business risk a big client would never take.
I could watch a series of just Megan's mom getting trashed on wine and bitching at people. She is so fun.
What do you guys think?
I never saw the merger coming. So it wasn't everyone. Maybe I'm the only one.
I loved everyone ganging up on Don. While everyone around him has grown and invested more into their lives and company, Don is still pulling the same shit from the beginning of the series. Then he was only hurting the company ran by him and two old rich men. Now he is hurting people like Joan. I know I'm not the only one who felt a little weird last season about the storyline of Joan and the Jaguar guy. I really enjoyed how it has continued into this season with the culmination of Joan finding out Don has cost her millions and having it out with him. What made Don Draper the hero in the beginning of the series is now making him the Anti-Hero cause everyone around him has grown and evolved except him.
I loved Megan calling him Superman. He thinks of himself as a Superman who swoops in and saves everyone. It's not how other see him. Maybe they did earlier in the series. Now Pete and Joan don't see him that way. Peggy isn't all that excited about the merger and seeing Don with his huge grin on his face like he just saved the day.
How did Megan become so sweet and nice with such two horrible parents?
Roger used the recent death of his mother and it being mother's day to get sex and tips from a stewardess.
Quote from: ©brad on May 06, 2013, 11:30:42 AM
How can a client as big as GM hand over reigns of their account to two small agencies who on a whim decided to merge the night before? That is a huge business risk a big client would never take.
True but Don mentioned it was his job to convince GM that the merger was GM's idea. We didn't need to see it cause we've seen Don manipulate people in meetings before. While I don't work in the industry, for me it does come off as more believable if GM suggests the merger.
Don sold it as being tired of being the small agency that loses out to the bigger agency. I'm sure that's true but I think just as much of it is because Don is tired of being controlled by these small accounts like Jaguar and Baked Beans.
These past two episodes have been some of the best.
In a more perfect world, the producers of the upcoming 50 Shades of Grey movie would watch this episode, tear up their scripts in despair, and jump out a high window.
the last two episodes are the actual beginning of this season in my eyes. i enjoyed some of the dreamy quiet episodes but ultimately i like this show for the humour and cleverness that this past two episodes showed. campbell is fucking hilarious, man. someone make a youtube compilation vid of him going 'bob!'
wtf
Last Night's Mad Men: The Vietnam Theory
http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2013/05/20/mad_men_season_6_episode_8_the_crash_is_scdp_fighting_its_vietnam.html (http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2013/05/20/mad_men_season_6_episode_8_the_crash_is_scdp_fighting_its_vietnam.html)
that was hands down in top three best episodes ever.
I love the yearly format-breaker. This one takes the cake.
SPOILERS
My god the tap dance.
spoilers obvs;;;;;;;;;;;;;
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so yeah im pretty sure everyone knows this is the best ep ever. can we please discuss it.
why do they not do this every episode. the reason i watch this show is because of eps like this.
and why was roger not in it that much bc his acid ep was also in aforementioned top three.
the black maid was an amazingly not boring sidestory that included his kids that are horrible to watch,
tapdance scene was hands down best scene of ep.
Anytime someone asks me if advertising is really like Mad Men I'm just going to send them that tap dancing scene.
This show can be more painful and anxiety-inducing than the most terrifying and violent moments of Breaking Bad, and that's not a criticism. What do we think is in store for Don come end of season? I'm guessing a heart attack although that almost seems too obvious. He is so lost, I can't imagine him sinking any lower without killing himself.
I thought the episode was amazing. I was actually surprised when I read the AV Club recap which mentioned there was some disdain by some for the episode. The AV Club article also seemed to be apologetic about giving the episode a good review.
The show has completely turned on Don. Betty is the most universally hated person on the show but she was completely in the right going off on both Megan and Don. When was the last time we were all on Betty's side against anyone?
So glad the thin and blonde Betty is back.
I loved the reveal when we realize the entire time Don had not been working on the Chevy account but rather coming up with a sales pitch to get back Sylvia. Sylvia had a great line about when getting involved in an affair you do it with someone who has as much to lose as you do so you can trust them. She's now realizing Don doesn't care for anything.
The episode was also one of the funniest in recent memory. Tap dancing, Chevy being misspelled, Don running around, the throwing of exacto knife, "are we Negros?" and more
The biggest thing I took from the episode which I haven't seen mentioned was about the soup ad going back to the previous decade. The ad is something Don worked on which was inspired by his relationship with the prostitute. It's nearly ten years later and Don is still dealing with the same shit. He is a man who can't evolve or change because his entire persona is false. Don Draper is like a parasite sucking away Dick Whitman. Don is able to draw on these memories, feelings and insecurities from Dick to create these ads but at the same time keeps the man from growing or getting past them.
Mark your calendars for the apocalypse, I just liked Betty Draper in an episode of Mad Men.
Hah me too. Skinny Betty is back! She has an understanding of Don no other woman on the show has. The way she out-Don'd Don and was able to compartmentalize their tryst as just sex, and how she seems genuinely happy in her marriage to Henry shows how much she's evolved emotionally since the first season. In her own weird way she's finally grown up. She hasn't been the most likable of characters on the show but I've always found her interesting, now especially.
This episode was one of my favorites of the season, outside of the Roger C-plot which seemed contrived and tacked on (oh really, he wants to be a father now?) I loved the scene with Betty and Don singing that song with Bobby, who's actually a character now! There was a great meta line when he said "I'm Bobby #5" that made me chuckle, given he's the 5th actor to play that role. It's nice to see Don actually smile and not act like such a sad loser. That final shot with the "Always Something There to Remind Me" cover might be one of my favorite closing songs of the series.
Thanks to AV Club and Reddit:
Megan Draper and Sharon Tate
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http://www.uproxx.com/tv/2013/05/the-megan-draper-as-sharon-tate-theory-is-the-greatest-mad-men-theory-ever/ (http://www.uproxx.com/tv/2013/05/the-megan-draper-as-sharon-tate-theory-is-the-greatest-mad-men-theory-ever/)
Here are the facts: Sharon Tate was an up-and-coming actress in the 1960s. She started out with small television roles, and worked her way up to a Golden Globe for Valley of the Dolls in 1967. She was also a model married to film director Roman Polanski. On August 9, 1969, an eight-and-a-half month pregnant Sharon Tate was murdered in her home by followers of Charles Manson.
Now, while that doesn't exactly jibe with Mad Men's Megan Draper, there are certainly some similarities (Megan is an up-and-coming actress, who recently suffered a miscarriage and may or may not be trying for another child). And just in case you were wondering if Mathew Weiner wants us to draw those comparisons, check out the image above of Sharon Tate alongside Megan Draper. Now let's dig deeper.
The theory was developed over on Reddit, I believe in response to a tweet from the daughter of the photographer of the above Sharon Tate photograph and Janie Bryant, the designer on Mad Men.
It's "no coincidence." Now, as I was following along with this theory, I dismissed any notion that Matthew Weiner had planned on inserting a character into history and/or rewriting Sharon Tate's murder. Megan Draper is not Sharon Tate, and Weiner is not going to f**k with history. However, the point at which I became convinced that it was a narrative choice instead of a fashion choice was someone pointing out the this season's promo poster.
Not only does that poster allude to the "better halves" and the Dick Whitman/Don Draper stuff that's been going on all season, but the police presence does suggest something more sinister on the horizon. Before the season started, many of us jokingly suggested that this season would contain a murder based on the poster, but now it's not so much a joke. Combine that with the break-in in Don's apartment in last week's episode, plus Abe's stabbing, and it all seems to SCREAM an oncoming homicide. This is the period in NYC where crime began to rise precipitously. The sirens during Megan's scene on the balcony in this week's episode were loud enough to mean something (they weren't just faint background noises), and it's worth noting this: Sharon Tate's murder was one of mistaken identity.
You could spin a lot of theories about what seems like the impending murder of Megan Draper, from it being another break-in (foreshadowed by Grandma Ida), to a case of mistaken identity (foreshadowed by Peggy's stabbing of Abe), to Don being the murderer (there is a Draper walking to and from the crime scene in the poster), to BOB BENSON because OF COURSE BOB BENSON. Or maybe it's Dr. Rosen, who finds out about Draper's affair with Sylvia, who kills Megan after mistaking her for Draper.
That's gotta be it, right? Dr. Rosen?
Interestingly, it's not the first Draper/Tate comparison, as Tom and Lorenzo spotted such a comparison with the promo photos ahead of the season, writing of the picture below: "Megan's going a more California-inspired, Sharon Tate kind of route, which fits her character."
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I kept on thinking Megan was a goner last night because of A) the Tate parallels mixed with B) the fact that once Don and Roger got back to New York, Don hadn't dropped by his apartment yet. Seemed a little "Dexter Season 4-y" to me.
Otherwise, last night's episode was fun to watch, although all over the place. Still enjoyed
Quoteto BOB BENSON because OF COURSE BOB BENSON
K. Let's talk about
that guy. Apparently there has been some discussion on the interwebs about the mysterious Bob Benson that I wasn't aware of until now. And I can see why. Why is he so nice? Why is he always around? (A question I found to be hilariously brought up by Jim Cutler during his Ginsberg showdown: "WHY ARE YOU ALWAYS DOWN HERE?! GO BACK UPSTAIRS!!)
People are thinking some crazy shit. Possible FBI agent investigating Don Draper, Don's bastard child from the prostitute (pffft) or even a serial killer. And while I don't necessarily buy the last two, FBI might not be such a stretch. In any case, I have been wondering who the fuck that guy is. Something's up with this season. Shit is brewing. There is as much unrest in these characters as there is in the streets. I find myself saying "this is my favorite season" every year now. Someone's gonna diiiiiieeeee (maybe).
OK, also, for some reason I was watching Hot Tub Time Machine the other day on satellite, and Jessica Pare (Megan Draper) shares a jacuzzi scene with Craig Robinson and she's topless. I don't know if that has been brought to the attention of this thread. But there you go.
I almost think sunday night showrunners knew GoT was airing that balls-out, penultimate episode and figured there was no way to compete so they just low-balled it.
I didn't love this episode. How many drug-induced epiphanies can these characters have? I know it's the late 60s but it feels dramatically forced. The California trip was pointless. Roger's verbal spatdown of Danny seemed unnecessarily cruel and also pretty pointless. The silent scenes of Don and Megan watching the democratic national convention almost put them to sleep. I'm excited to see where everything lands in the last 3 episodes but overall this season hasn't been nearly as gripping as 4 or 5.
I have decided to wait to watch all the game of throne episodes until the season is done so I can binge watch it. I was thinking how incredibly easy it's been to stay away from GOT spoilers. It hadn't been all that difficult either. That was until yesterday morning when everything exploded and now it's everywhere including in the Mad Men thread. I know what people have been calling it online but have been able to stay away from details. One more week!!
The three previous episodes have been great so it's understandable they couldn't keep that up. The California trip did feel pointless.
What I really noticed this episode was the difference between the two companies. You can't imagine Shaw doing the same kinds of things Don and Sterling get away with. How has Sterling Cooper been able to survive with these two in control?
In the previous episode, Joan made the comment that Pete is the only one at the company that has never broken a promise to her. He promises not to cut her out and she in returns cuts him out.
Have we seen the straw that has broke Pete? Pete has to be one of the most committed and hardest working people in that office. He's had nothing but failures this season.He's always been able to see things before they happen and I think he's right about they're gonna be pushed out. With that awesome ending, Pete just might turn on, tune in, drop out.
While the Megan and Sharon Tate thing is fun, it's being overblown. There is a lot of civil disrest and crime happening in the season but it doesn't point to a Sharon Tate like violent moment like the last season did. The Megan and Sharon Tate thing would have been much more scarier last season. There was a lot of references to murders and mass murders. You had the group of nurses being murdered and then the guy with the last name of Whitman shooting people in Texas. It all led up to that terrifying episode of Don leaving Megan at the restaurant then unable to find her once he went back. Maybe the reference will make sense at the end of the season but I don't expect Don to come home find a dead Megan.
if it takes drugs to make an episode of this show incredibly awesome and smooth, then i'm ok with that.
obvs thats whats happening: i mean this last one and the speed one have been easily the best of the season, dare i say series. it doesnt even have anything to do with the characters being on drugs, its more that coincidentally these seem to be the most solid, perfectly paced episodes. i dont know.
E10 SPOILS I GUESS:
- the shot of don walking through the party was beautiful
- pete at the end definitely means somethings about to snap in him or already has. you're right brando, his luck has been glaringly bad this whole season. im ready for him to freak out and do something crazy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmT8fB8geY0
Does anybody watch What the Flick?
I started following for movie reviews - Ben from TCM and Christy Lemire the AP film critic that was on the last TV version of Ebert's show are 2 of the people. They also do TV episode reviews now with some other people.
Great episode. Don is a baby! The show bookends with him in the fetal position and he plays the baby in the commercial. I think the reason Don did what he did was that he's unhappy and doesn't want anyone else to be happy. The secretary said it herself when she saw how Peggy and Shaw were acting. When Shaw confronts him, Don tells him to go ask the secretary. I have to agree with Don too. Those two were completely annoying.
I loved the final scene with Betty and Sally. Betty spent the entire episode trying to figure out what's wrong with Sally and why she would want to go to boarding school. Then Sally says "My father's never given me anything." I'm sure this is the first time Sally has ever spoke ill of Don to Betty. The previous episode, Sally and Betty were fighting. Sally screams at her asking why Betty couldn't support her like Don. Betty replies sarcastically about Don being perfect. Don's infidelity has brought these two together.
I laughed out load when Pete told his mom to tell her "lover" that he threw her down the stairs.
According to Mad Men, when one chooses a new identity, have your first and last name begin with the same letter. Also, the first name needs to have a shorter abbreviation with no more than three letters.
Yeah lots of dark, funny stuff, especially from Pete.
Loved everything with Sally and Betty. I'm really into Betty again.
Don is turning into Freddie Runson. The push-in as he drank that screwdriver was sad.
Megan Draper - WAKE THE FUCK UP.
I don't really care about Bob Benson. His character is interesting enough but it's the second to last season and we're focusing on new dweebs like him instead of Roger, Joan, Ken, and Harry.
I haven no idea what's coming next week. My best guess is Don will leave the agency, or be pushed out. Or he'll have a heart attack.
Quote from: ©brad on June 17, 2013, 09:05:47 PM
Loved everything with Sally and Betty. I'm really into Betty again.
Betty is still Betty but love how she has still has been able to evolve. Betty is such a hated character but still has shown growth where Don has shown little.
Quote from: ©brad on June 17, 2013, 09:05:47 PM
Megan Draper - WAKE THE FUCK UP.
Megan always came off as naive. Her parents have always been horrible so she's used to putting up with shit. She's also focused on her own career to focus on Don.
I noticed this last night but as usual the internet has beaten me to the idea by 9 months. Weiner's son looks like the girl from the skittles commercial.
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Quote from: Brando on June 17, 2013, 08:29:24 PM
I loved the final scene with Betty and Sally.
Yeah, this scene also was somewhat reminiscent of the moment last year where Don let Glen drive his car. A moment where the adults connect with the kids by allowing them a sense of adulthood.
I pretty much love the idea that moments/themes are reappearing now in a mirrored context. Pete finds out about Bob like he did Don, but realizes there's no point in taking him down, basically apologizing in the end. This also reflects the moment in season 3 where Don pretty much condemns Salvatore's sexuality, while Pete may put up boundaries to Bob, yet looks past their sexual differences.
Good stuff.
Great final episode although I didn't like how the episode was directed.
Don had it coming but I still felt sad seeing him leaving SC&P. He's burnt so many bridges that no one seemed sad to see him leave. Peggy was already snooping around his office. I enjoyed the moment where she sat in his seat and turned slightly to mimic the show's logo.
Is this the last of Don Draper at SC&P? I could see the agency moving forward without him. Don might not even want to go back.
After spending the entire season talking about Don not changing or growing, he finally shows change. In season 1, he wanted to escape with this girlfriend leaving his children behind. He can now leave to California with Megan but decides to stay with his children.
The episode ends November 1968 and next season will be it's last. Since the show began at the beginning of 1960, You could guess that the show will end at the dawn of the 1970s. Mad Men in the 70s just doesn't seem right.
After last weeks hilarious/cruel comment, Pete gets another with "She always loved the sea."
spoilers whatever
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ugh.
well, the direction was definitely the biggest problem with this episode, brando, you're right.
i dont know why i got excited seeing that weiner would be directing it, he definitely screwed it up.
this felt similar to the last GOT, which suffered from too much exposition like p said. too much of it felt like a beginning rather than a summing up.
the constant dramatic music and the weird fades were just, well, weird. the change in dons character is definitely interesting but it occurred too late. we've been seeing his downfall for a while, so the whole quitting drinking thing would have been cool to play on for more than ONE episode, come on. i mean the whole breakdown in the hersheys meeting was kind of just sad instead of shocking because hes already done it a few times. i guess it was a necessary for his final nail in the coffin. the sally subpoena would have been nice to see come to a conclusion instead it just kind of vaguely disappeared? (edit: ok i just realized that its not december yet, so that makes sense, but still! that would have been a fun scene.)
maybe its just me, but i really hated it overall. the people moving around from la to ny and oh wait now im going and bobs staying but now stan wants to but megan is and dons not and this and that. after like the second switch i just didnt even care. the last scene came out of nowhere and maybe it was supposed to be real dramatic but it was flat.
i hope that the final season is kind of in the 70s and they just throw the kitchen sink in there and make it real crazy and go out in an explosion. this show has had too many exciting awesome things in it to be as bland as this ep.
I rewatched it and the direction is just bad. Jon Hamm and Elizabeth Moss have killed in these roles but in their characters biggest moments of this episode they seemed lost. Jon Hamm gave a portion of his Hersey's speech while holding his hand in front of his face. Directing 101: Don't obscure the actor's face especially during a life changing moment.
excellent way to agree with me without saying it and making it seem like your idea
I agree that Matt Weiner's not the best director in the world (just let John Slattery direct every episode from now on), but the Hershey meeting was one of the best scenes the show has ever done. Viewed in a vacuum it doesn't seem like much, but swaddled in the context of the entire series, with everything we know about this character and the path he's taken, it was epic. Honest to god chills.
Quote from: 03 on June 24, 2013, 10:13:45 PM
excellent way to agree with me without saying it and making it seem like your idea
I agree with 03 that the direction of the episode was seriously lacking. I still think it was a great episode in spite of the direction (which led to poor acting). I'm not trying to steal anyone's ideas or critiques and pass them on as my own. So I agree with 03 with a lot of his analysis except I liked the episode. Also, I didn't feel like it was the final episode of GOT only setting up the next season. It felt more like a new beginning for the characters. Trudy said it best when she told Pete he didn't realize it but he was finally free. Shaw and Pete would be free if they went to LA. Don would have just been running as he usually does. Shaw's real fear was becoming Don. Shaw mentioned something about if he stayed he would fall into a dark despair. Don is dealing with this right now but unlike Shaw he doesn't realize it's his own family that offers his salvation. Of all the things Don has tried, he's never done anything as selfless as Shaw. Shaw has given up a great career opportunity and an affair for the good of his family.
Quote from: polkablues on June 24, 2013, 10:52:57 PM
...but the Hershey meeting was one of the best scenes the show has ever done. Viewed in a vacuum it doesn't seem like much, but swaddled in the context of the entire series, with everything we know about this character and the path he's taken, it was epic. Honest to god chills.
couldn't agree more, season's best scene by far.
and I don't see the problem of having your hand on your face at that moment, it's obvious that telling that story isn't easy and Hamm's mannerisms where spot on and felt very real.
Yeah that scene was great. I loved the ending too. But I don't know, there was a lot of sloppy shit in this finale. Like many episodes this season, it suffered from having too much stuff crammed into it. In this one episode, Pete takes his first big voyage to GM, gets embarrassed by Bob and subsequently kicked off the account, finds out his mother dies possibly at the hands of Bob's gay lover, has to say goodbye to his daughter, makes peace with his wife, and ends up moving to California. And that's just Pete's storyline. For a "slow" show the pace has been unusually erratic this season.
And I know the internet was fascinated by Bob Benson but I wasn't. Okay, a mini-Don with a shady past infiltrates the agency... and? I would have happily traded him for more Joan or Roger screen time. They are the two best characters on the show and they had nothing to do the last 5 episodes.
Anywayyyyy... Breaking Bad you're up!
Not an announcement, but the first four seasons of Mad Men were shot on film, while the later seasons have been shot on video (Alexa). Opportunity to compare the same general look filtered through two different mediums (click to enlarge):
Mad Men, film:
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(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FSw0Bux9.jpg&hash=a3fe00c90ff1aeb78220794d520ae025dacb0764) (http://images2.static-bluray.com/reviews/1623_8_large.jpg)
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(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FGq8h3n0.jpg&hash=b39f60396a21dea0d1736bbfedf5c233005bfe2f) (http://images3.static-bluray.com/reviews/1623_12_large.jpg)
Mad Men, video:
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2F5gIVOVc.jpg&hash=686d1be7c821b9effa16faf0f911a326f657c734) (http://images4.static-bluray.com/reviews/6843_1_large.jpg)
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FAo2cHQE.jpg&hash=3d7bbc25cd7b8e4a8336452f2be2cb3d98c896a6) (http://images3.static-bluray.com/reviews/6843_4_large.jpg)
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FyhOGxRg.jpg&hash=07c058bd1470c5df5d65fbea8e3c5e6b3cbb0dcc) (http://images4.static-bluray.com/reviews/6843_5_large.jpg)
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FE8ek2jP.jpg&hash=740f03b1102a48182938b081b23822d918f7acf8) (http://images3.static-bluray.com/reviews/6843_8_large.jpg)
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FhYWncwp.jpg&hash=746a340655e635bcb34af79a2366e7da0670bc98) (http://images3.static-bluray.com/reviews/6843_19_large.jpg)
I feel like you purposefully tried to make the video look ugly, with the smoking shots and this:
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so, what are you trying to say Wilder?
pretty random place to put this, but it's your thread.
I'm saying video is gorgeous, warm, textural, with tons of depth to the image and superior highlight roll off.
But, for the sake of fairness, here are a few video images from scenes with more comparable lighting to give that ugly cousin film a fighting chance:
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FaAGwOBt.jpg&hash=a47611c9daa0f34069644a233b7c1d07db655e7a) (http://images.static-bluray.com/reviews/6843_2_large.jpg)
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FnO8Jlhh.jpg&hash=1c15020348149ca69abbadc63c7ba1e78033b4d3) (http://images2.static-bluray.com/reviews/6843_7_large.jpg)
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2Fn3gtRLS.jpg&hash=dcc043714ebfa0a16a758766a0a95881d2ce5a0f) (http://images4.static-bluray.com/reviews/6843_14_large.jpg)
I don't mean to knock film, I just thought it was interesting to see the difference.
i've moved these last three posts from Random Blu-Ray Announcements because this is the, uh, actual thread.
http://theamericanreader.com/the-cosmology-of-serialized-television/
AMC Splits 'Mad Men's' Final Season, Series Ending in 2015
Source: THR
In a move similar to "Breaking Bad," the drama will spread out its final run of 14 episodes over the course of two years.
Mad Men isn't going off the air anytime soon. Despite original plans for the series to wrap in 2014, AMC announced Tuesday that it is splitting up the final season into two parts -- much like the cable network did with Breaking Bad.
"This approach has worked well for many programs across multiple networks, and, most recently for us, with Breaking Bad, which attracted nearly double the number of viewers to its second-half premiere than had watched any previous episode," says AMC president Charlie Collier. "We are determined to bring Mad Men a similar showcase. In an era where high-end content is savored and analyzed, and catch-up time is used well to drive back to live events, we believe this is the best way to release the now 14 episodes than remain of this iconic series."
Airing the first seven episodes, dubbed "The Beginning," in the spring of 2014 and the final seven, "The End of an Era," in spring 2015, AMC, with few new dramas on the horizon, extends the life of its critically acclaimed flagship.
"We plan to take advantage of this chance to have a more elaborate story told in two parts, which can resonate a little bit longer in the minds of our audience," says Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner. "The writers, cast and other artists welcome this unique manner of ending this unique experience."
Mad Men premiered its most recent season to 3.5 million viewers and wrapped with an average 2.7 million, tying the most watched season finale for the show to date. And while those numbers might not have made it a ratings juggernaut for AMC the way that The Walking Dead or this last run of Breaking Bad have been, the series has been a darling in the TV community since its 2007 premiere. It has won 15 Emmy Awards to date, including the first-ever outstanding drama win for a basic cable series -- a feat it duplicated four years in a row.
"Mad Men has had a transcendent impact on our popular culture, and it has played a prominent role in building our Lionsgate brand," said Lionsgate Television Group chairman Kevin Beggs. "We anticipate a remarkable seventh season thanks to the brilliance of Matthew Weiner, the entire creative and production team, and our tremendous partnership with AMC. We're all working to ensure that the series will have the kind of powerful send-off it so richly deserves."
The decision to split Mad Men comes at time of big changes for AMC. The cable network says goodbye to Breaking Bad in two weeks' time and recently canceled The Killing. Potential spinoffs for Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead are being developed, and the network has drama pilot Line of Sight in the pipeline. 1980s computer drama Halt & Catch Fire and period drama Turn were both recently ordered to series.
This "split-season" bullshit is bullshit. You're not splitting up a season AMC. You're giving us two shorter seasons. Just call it that. And this is obviously just to make more money but I feel this format won't work as well on a slower-paced, character-driven show liked Mad Men.
I also could be totally wrong here but I feel Mad Men has found all the audience it's going to find at this point. Breaking Bad is a pulpy, addictive thriller with more mainstream appeal, hence its bounce in ratings thanks to Netflix.
Screenwriter Robert Towne Joins Writing Staff of 'Mad Men' (EXCLUSIVE)
Oscar winner is among new recruits for AMC drama's seventh and final season
Source: Variety
Forget it, Don. It's ..."Mad Men."
Veteran screenwriter Robert Towne is among Matthew Weiner's new recruits to "Mad Men's" writing staff for the upcoming seventh and final season, which AMC announced Monday will unfold in two seven-episode batches in spring 2014 and spring 2015.
Towne is serving as a consulting producer for the AMC/Lionsgate TV drama series. He won an original screenplay Oscar for 1974′s "Chinatown" (a source of many oft-quoted lines including: "Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown"). He earned three other Oscar screenwriting noms, for 1973′s "The Last Detail," 1975′s "Shampoo" and 1984′s "Greystoke: the Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes." Recent credits include "Mission: Impossible II," "Without Limits" and "Days of Thunder."
Another film vet, Patricia Resnick ("Nine to Five"), is also on board as a consulting producer. Comedy scribe David Iserson, an alum of "Saturday Night Live" and laffers including "New Girl" and "United States of Tara," has signed on as a co-producer. And writers' assistant Carly Wray has been upped to staff writer from writers assistant last season.
Exec producers for season seven, along with creator Matthew Weiner, are Scott Hornbacher and Janet Leahy.
Quote from: MacGuffin on September 17, 2013, 06:10:09 PM
Source: Variety
Forget it, Don. It's ..."Mad Men."
He won an original screenplay Oscar for 1974′s "Chinatown" (a source of many oft-quoted lines including: "Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown").
Thanks Variety, I didn't get it.
Season 7 Teaser: http://www.vulture.com/2014/03/see-another-dreamy-mad-men-teaser.html Show is back April 13th.
I really enjoyed the episode. It was a great set up for a season of Mad Men's slow burn but then I remembered there's only 7 episodes this season.
No need to reiterate what California has symbolized to the show, it's characters and for Don but it now seems California is no longer what it used to be to Don. Don looked liked he was in black and white while everything else in California look like it was in full color like Megan's new TV.
I laughed out loud when I saw Pete. Did Pete really look like a hippie or is Don just old?
I loved the scene on the plane. It was Mad Men at its best. Don had some great lines. It ended great with Don turning her down and then opening a shade.
Quote from: Brando on April 14, 2014, 09:21:03 PM
I laughed out loud when I saw Pete. Did Pete really look like a hippie or is Don just old?
I think he meant he was "sounding" like a hippie, what with the whole
""the city's flat and ugly, the air is brown, but i love the vibrations"
Pete is inventing yuppie.
Quote from: squints on April 14, 2014, 09:44:54 PM
Quote from: Brando on April 14, 2014, 09:21:03 PM
I laughed out loud when I saw Pete. Did Pete really look like a hippie or is Don just old?
I think he meant he was "sounding" like a hippie, what with the whole
""the city's flat and ugly, the air is brown, but i love the vibrations"
Pete is inventing yuppie.
If I'm remembering right, Don's response to that line was something close to "Not only do you look like a hippie but you sound like one too."
I was wondering if I took right as a subtle jab at Don's age. Pete is not a hippie but I'm sure someone at a certain age around that time could mistake him for one.
A caricature of themselves? Well, Pete and Kenny, if you just look at them, seem very different from who they were. I liked the premiere a lot, the rhythm felt odd, and kind of off, but the ending saved everything. I love Mad Men.
Seriously. Sally Draper is the best.
She really is. What a good episode. That ending made me teary eyed! Dare I suggest it was a small step forward to a redemption of sorts for Don? They played it perfectly. I loved how Sally didn't turn back when she walked into the school. It was emotional but not sentimental.
One issue I have is the whole merger and continued power struggles between Cutler Gleason and Chaough and SCDP isn't that interesting to me. The stakes just aren't there and the whole feud last season between Ted, a mopey and ultimately unremarkable character, and Don didn't carry much weight. When the show is on our lead characters, I'm happy.
"Of course she has plans. Check her calendar... 'February 14th - masturbate gloomily.'"
This show has a weird reputation for being dour, but when it's funny, it's really goddamn funny.
Oh man totally. It shows that Matt Weiner is really a comedy writer (he did start out writing on comedy sitcoms).
My other favorite line was "Hard to believe your cat had the money."
Lou is such a boob, I love it. They wanted the anti-Don and they went too far.
That diner scene was so good. At it's heart, the show is really about those two. I loved how he made her laugh at the end, Don Draper can charm his way out of anything but only Dick Whitman can charm Sally.
A fun gif of Cooper seeing Dawn at the front of the office.
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What a great episode. And the actors are at the top of their game. Moss is perfect. I love reading the recaps of Mad Men, there are great ones; they impress me because, as you can see, I can only write: What a great episode.
Unfortunately, the torrent gods are cutting the end credits of the episodes of Mad Men - and not the other shows - because they want you to leave you angry at the end. They're following the philosophy of AMC. I tried to find a way to buy the episode, but you have to be american or wait months before you can eventually buy your seven episodes for 30 $. (Just posting to complain, yes.)
I loved how the episode ended. It was brilliant to have him sitting around and to see everyone's reactions. Peggy is cold.
Don has always been one that could see the writing on the wall before anyone else. He could see it and accept it while others would choose to ignore it.
I think He's realized what Peggy is choosing to ignore. Peggy is fighting to create inspiring work but doesn't realize the agency isn't interested in that anymore. The reason the agency isn't interested is because the clients are no longer interested. It was brought up in the partners meeting about how most of the clients don't like the Clio awards.
Don has realized the 60s are ending and with that the world of Mad Men is ending. The world of Mad Men where men drink on the job, drink too much, sleep around, create inspiring work is over. Cosgrove is nostalgic remembering the carrousel pitch from season 1. It's a different era now. The episode ends with Don given an offer of to accept he's in a different era or reject it. I love how easily he says yes.
Oh Betty.
Quote from: Drenk on April 28, 2014, 02:32:54 AM
buy your seven episodes for 30 $. (Just posting to complain, yes.)
The price of digital downloads and digital rentals are way overpriced. I can pay $38.99 for the digital episodes of season 3 of Game of Thrones or pay $6 more for blu rays with all the extras.
Do they even still do digital rentals? I remember having to pay $2 to rent one episode of Lost. I could have gone to Blockbuster and rent an entire season of a show for $5.99 to $7.99.
I always thought it would have been a good idea for HBO to allow people to preorder a show on Blu Ray then give them access to that show on HBO go until the blu ray is released. I would preorder season 4 of GOT on blu ray if it allowed me access to watch it right now on HBO Go.
The scene between Don and Roger in the hotel room was great, as were the final moments, but the harshness Joan and Peggy showed Don seemed completely out of character. This is the guy that started the new agency and is the main reason both women are where they are. I understand Peggy would feel irked about the whole Ted thing but come on, her relationship with him was never going to work. Peggy would still be a secretary if it wasn't for Don. As for Joan, Don is the one guy who has stood by her and never reduced her to a sexual servant. And that scene with the partners debating their options was clunky as hell. How is it they weren't all on the same page in regards to the legal ramifications of Don's contract and what "paid leave" actually meant?
Don fired Jaguar, so Joan did what she did for nothing, and the company couldn't go public or something. Then Don couldn't stop fucking things up. Joan has nothing against Don. She has something against Don working with them. As she says, it is working without him. Yes, they aren't creative, just okay, but at least the company isn't in danger. She's thinking about his son. Nothing out of character.
Peggy doesn't want Don back. She's already underestimated with Lou, she doesn't need someone else above her. Remember where she was one season ago in Ted's firm! She's bitter. And she tried to show she has power. She doesn't really has power.
I don't think it's out of character at all.
This is actually Roger's best play, he's being marginalized in the office and needs Don back in his corner. This evens the stakes as far as office politics goes, now that he's Don's hero there's nothing Don won't side with him on. Ted knows what Don did for him, even though no one else does, so with Ted/Pete/Roger/Don in the same corner, things should get interesting. I'm loving Lou's panic, Don reporting to him is going to be glorious.
Betty's life has gotten so small. She's finally starting to acknowledge the cracks in her lifestyle. When Henry asks what Bobby did to ruin her day, even she can't say it out loud because she knows it wasn't a big deal.
Quote from: Drenk on April 28, 2014, 03:09:05 PM
Don fired Jaguar, so Joan did what she did for nothing, and the company couldn't go public or something. Then Don couldn't stop fucking things up. Joan has nothing against Don. She has something against Don working with them. As she says, it is working without him. Yes, they aren't creative, just okay, but at least the company isn't in danger. She's thinking about his son. Nothing out of character.
Peggy doesn't want Don back. She's already underestimated with Lou, she doesn't need someone else above her. Remember where she was one season ago in Ted's firm! She's bitter. And she tried to show she has power. She doesn't really has power.
I don't think it's out of character at all.
Well this harkens back to whether you thought Joan's anger towards Don when he fired Jaguar last season was justified. I don't think it was. And Joan got exactly what she wanted out of that deal (partnership). That wasn't taken away when Jaguar was given the middle finger. Plus the company was able to parlay Jaguar into Chevy, which is proving to be far more lucrative for the firm. Don has been the most consistent character in seeing Joan as an actual human being and not a piece of ass.
Peggy makes even less sense to me. It's not like she's happy under Lou. She's being extremely petty and forgetting how much Don has done for her. I'm still not exactly clear on why Peggy is mad at Don in the first place. For disrupting an affair she was having with her married boss?
i have to agree with both cbrad and drenk on this.
i think joans contempt is from the jaguar thing, and peggys is just general frustration.
don used to be this mysterious, overbearing, intimidating force that was respected and acknowledged as being superior in an almost ethereal way, and now he's just a regular guy, and i think that everyone is comfortable with that now. so for him to show back up just kind of fucked with everyones head, and everyone reacted in different ways. the meeting of the partners made sense to me, because the way they let him go was almost like an unspoken agreement. so when they're like 'hes fired' and then 'but we cant just fire him' is another testament to the hold he still has on them, they were just able to keep it at bay.
I remember what Joan said to him : "For once I'd like you to say "We"." They're all sick of the Don Draper show, of him thinking that he's naturally the most important person. Especially when he's fucking everything up. Joan talks about the "damages" he's done in this episode. They lost money because of him. And Joan is more respected without him!
Of course, I'd want Joan to smile at Don the way she did in Christmas Waltz and Peggy to admit that she's just like Don, but I understand why they don't.
But I'm sure Peggy, at least, won't stay that cold toward Don.
Now, Don works again. But he's useless. I can't wait to see how he deals with it.
Quote from: ©brad on April 28, 2014, 05:06:47 PM
Peggy makes even less sense to me. It's not like she's happy under Lou. She's being extremely petty and forgetting how much Don has done for her. I'm still not exactly clear on why Peggy is mad at Don in the first place. For disrupting an affair she was having with her married boss?
Peggy wasn't happy working under Don. It's more than just Ted. They've had issues for seasons. Don had to beg Peggy to join the new agency cause they had issues. There was a confrontation when Don won the Clio award for the floor mop ad. Peggy felt she should have been acknowledged for that ad. She decided to look for a new job cause she hated working with Don. When Peggy told Don she was going to work with Ted, Don went off on her. She was furious when the two agencies joined and she was going to have to go back to working with Don.
Peggy sees Don as someone she can't escape. He did a lot for her in the beginning. In recent years he's done nothing but hold her back. He treats her poorly cause he feels like he has the right to while at the same time keeps her under his thumb cause he doesn't want to lose her.
The other woman in Don's life can escape his bullshit by leaving him. Peggy is the only woman in his life that hasn't been able to get away.
Well this is where the realities of a TV show conflict with character motivations. Peggy as a character should have jumped ship to another agency for more money and creative freedom a while ago, right after Ted left. Alas, Elizabeth Moss must remain on the show.
Still, if I'm Peggy, and I'm forced to be at SC at this point, my allegiance would be with Don. Purely from a career perspective, she has a better chance of getting good work that will define her career out of Don than with Lou, who has shown he couldn't give have a fuck about good creative. As a copywriter, you're only as good as your last ad. If you start producing mediocre dreck, you're career is screwed.
My hunch is Peggy and Don will eventually reunite and it will be a way between Don/Peggy/Roger/Pete/Ted (who remember Don helped by giving him California) vs Lou, Bert, and everyone else.
A great review: how colors explain the characters.
http://tomandlorenzo.com/2014/04/mad-style-field-trip/
And something interesting about Joan:
QuoteHer marriage is long behind her; well and truly over. She's moved on. We kinda thought that's why her yellow roses were featured so prominently as she moved into her new office. But she is once again dealing with a square-jawed, handsome, good-on-paper alpha male who's secretly a mess of insecurities and who makes rash decisions that deeply affect the people around him without ever asking for their input. Don is the office version of her husband and she's already put up with that shit once in her life. She's not about to let another handsome, privileged man screw up her life because of his own issues. Hence the red rose dress, which is now a symbol not just of her husband, but of the ways in which the men around her have disappointed her and how she no longer puts up with it anymore. This costume actually underlines and helps to explain her anger in her scenes.
That's a false equivalency. Don is flawed but I don't buy that he's the office version of that insecure, narcissistic rapist douche of a husband.
I thought they established during the rapist husband story that Don was the opposite of that. Joan resents Don for showing up at her apartment because it makes the men in the office an uneven playing field. It was more simple when they were all willing to pimp her out, an attitude Joan is used to, it allowed her to conduct herself as a more ruthless businesswoman. Don proved that he actually cared about her and she doesn't want to deal with that. Don firing Jaguar just threw more logs on the fire. Sure, she made partner anyway, but it puts Don on the moral high ground and she can't stand that.
I think you're reaching a bit. "You're one of the good ones aren't you" was her line when Don showed up at her apartment, and it was delivered sincerely.
Quote from: diggler on April 30, 2014, 01:48:29 PMDon proved that he actually cared about her and she doesn't want to deal with that. Don firing Jaguar just threw more logs on the fire.
Where is the evidence to support this? She's got reason to be irked at Don now, but during "The Other Woman" at the end of season 5, Don was one of her only allies.
I think Joan is used to every man only giving a shit about her on a sexual level, it's shaped how she's climbed the ladder. Even Lane, who she assumed respected her on a professional level (which he did), threw himself at her in a moment of desperation. There's a part of her that appreciates that Don showed up at her apartment, but she can't reconcile that with the choice she made, it makes it worse.
You could also turn the argument around and say that Don was the selfish one in the Jaguar scenario. Perhaps he didn't want Joan to sleep with the creepy Jaguar guy because his ego couldn't accept that it was anything but him that won the account.
Matthew Weiner.
QuoteThe network has decided to split it over two years, so that's already different. I added an extra episode because I didn't want to have a six-episode run; I mean, seven is going to feel short enough. I had a plan with the writers for these 14 episodes that goes across them together, but there's going to be 10 months between them on the air. So right away I'm like, "Ugh, I need two premieres, two finales, really, because I want people to come back."
It allowed for less digression, quite honestly. I don't know how the audience feels about that, but when you're doing 13 episodes you can investigate every corner of the story if you want to. You can follow anybody home. This has made us really concentrate on the main characters — that was one of the byproducts of it. And it actually didn't seem like enough episodes for what we had to do. I'm writing Episode 12 right now. ... I actually haven't written the last two.
From this NPR interview: http://www.npr.org/2014/05/01/308608611/mad-men-creator-matthew-weiner-on-the-end-of-don-drapers-journey
I really hate that AMC decided to fuck the way the writers developed a season for the final one.
Me too. We've bitched about this before but it's worth bitching about again. We're getting two mini-seasons, not one final season split in half, whatever the hell that is. Breaking Bad worked because the show is a pulpy, cliffhanger-happy thriller that makes for the perfect binge-watching session, and thanks to Netflix, a tsunami of new viewers came for that final 7. Mad Men is a slow-burning, soapy intellectual show that's found its audience by this point.
I really liked this episode.
2001/The Shinning
Mad Men gets away with things others can't. It can be so on the nose but still make it work. Even the characters themselves make reference to it and it works. Cooper points out the obvious of Don being in the office of a dead man. Don gets called an ape using tools, talks about unable to make fire and then uses his own name in a drunken reference about the Dawn of time.
I did notice something about Lou in this episode. I thought he looked strange in his suit. I'm not sure we've seen him in a jacket before this episode. When he turns his back to Peggy to look out the window, we get the established Mad Men shot from the logo. We've seen it multiple times with Don along with other characters. Lou's shot is in complete contrast with Don's. He is hunched over. It looked like his suit didn't fit right like it was too small for him. It made him look older than he really is. I came to the obvious realization that he is Nixon. They did the same thing in earlier seasons trying to make connections with Don and JFK.
Yes, Peggy, Ginsberg has always been insane.
This was sad. What we've known of these people lives is fading. There is no creativity in the office and the main character, Don, has no place to be. Two episodes left this "season" and it has just begun; I'm curious to see how Weiner & Co will give a finale vibe to this part. Episode 7 is called Waterloo. It should be interesting.
my god what a beautiful episode.
i think peggy's reaction to ginsberg was maybe some of the best acting i have ever seen. dude, just look at her face. that was crazy.
i'm rewatching the series from episode one, with my mom, who has never seen it before. it was her call. and i'm watching it alongside this current season. this is a truly remarkable show, a work of art.
Quote from: 03 on May 12, 2014, 04:05:45 AM
my god what a beautiful episode.
i think peggy's reaction to ginsberg was maybe some of the best acting i have ever seen. dude, just look at her face. that was crazy.
i'm rewatching the series from episode one, with my mom, who has never seen it before. it was her call. and i'm watching it alongside this current season. this is a truly remarkable show, a work of art.
Elisabeth Moss is offering her best work on the show yet, isn't she? I just want to throw Emmys at her. The rage, the frustration, the shame, the joy to be Don's boss, the "WTF" faces. Her face when Ginsberg was brought out of the office literally broke my heart. This office is so sad. SO SAD.
It must be weird to see the difference between season 1 and season 7, it looks like another lifetime.
its amazing actually. to see basketful of kisses peggy, and then go straight to this shit.
and just to let everyone know, don't listen to npr, apparently they interviewed someone mad men relate recently and they let out a horrible spoiler.
ps: this show is pretty infamous for its sexual content, but tonights episode was hands down their best.
Freddie Rumsen is the one who discovers Peggy, not Don. It's great to see him in the final season. Ah, the basketful of kisses. Sweet memories.
SPOILERS THE RUNAWAYS
Internet is a weird place.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BncDIi-CMAA_xJ-.jpg)
i know that shit is going to be common knowledge very soon, but spoilers man come on!
I don't know how but this show can be more unnerving than some of the most intense episodes of Breaking Bad. There's this impending doom oozing out of every frame that's downright scary at times. I love it.
SPOILERS
It went to the extremes of titillation - wife approved three-way
and horror - self nipple removal - all in one episode.
Throw in Lou trying to write a comic strip a la Beetle Bailey.
Did anyone think the neice was going to bring back the Manson Family stuff?
I was thinking when the neice got there and Megan was closing the door, that some creepy dude would push it open and be like Charles Manson.
I guess it leaves the possibility open though.
SPOILERS
Ginsberg being wheeled out on the stretcher yelling "Get out while you can!", Peggy looking at the computer with its ominous hum was more kubrick than anything from the last episode. It felt like a horror movie cliff hanger. There was some hints and references to mental illness in previous episodes but the references were about Don.
This episode seemed to deal with authority figures a lot. Lou and Betty both had tirades about the younger generations lack of respect for authority. Lou flexes his authority over Don. Betty rebels against hers in Henry. Sally rebels against Betty. Ginsberg sees the computer having power over people. It seems Don still has some authority even if it just with Crane. In the end, when Don is able to impress his authority figure, there is another one there above both of them that is not impressed.
In any other show, an episode like this would signal foreboding with the rest of the season, but Mad Men doesn't do that. They will do something in one episode that other shows would drag out for the majority of the season.
Quote from: Brando on May 12, 2014, 08:20:18 PM
SPOILERS
Peggy looking at the computer with its ominous hum was more kubrick than anything from the last episode.
and of course,
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This is why Mad Men is one of my favorite shows.
this is the darkest/creepiest shit to have ever been on tv. and no one knows it.
everyone looks like they're dying.
why does pete look mangled?
why does roger have ACTUAL GIRL BREASTS
not happy to have to wait for the second half, but overall this is a very satisfying season so far. how many of you regularly listen to NPR? they were talking about mad men a while ago and revealed a pretty serious spoiler for the second half of season seven, i was suprised. its very vague, but if you know the show it was a HUGE spoiler which i will not disclose. anyway
spoilers
best stuff:
- don running around telling everyone to get out of their offices
- peggy's face while the boy hugs her
- don's face after imagining cooper
- cutler telling don to swing on him
- pete always being a dumb little bitch 'i've got ten percent!!/you're not only pathetic you're selfish!'. hilarious.
not good:
- just me, but i don't give a shit about betty or her dumbass husband or sally or any of those people. i mean who cares anymore? betty was always a great character and still is, but what is her relevance to everything else? why aren't we following every other character that has been featured? when she was with don, then her connection made sense. their relationship, their personalities bouncing off each other. but now she's not a part of his life, so i don't really care about her having her feelings hurt or having a hard time, or her daughter slowly turning into a woman. ok, sally looked like she was attracted to the older boy, then goes after the younger one. good for her, who gives a shit.
- ...and thats about it actually
I'm curious about the NPR spoilers. The show is very careful about spoilers (it's even an obsession, Weiner doesn't want people to know when a season start exactly.) How did they "find" this spoiler?
SPOILERS
Weiner said that this part of the season was about the material world and the rest should be about the immaterial. The last scene shows this shift, in my opinion; they all won millions but the essential -- what is "free" -- is still missing. What is missing? What do we want? The eternal fucking question.
I thought the finale was spectacular. It was great to see them as a group again. 03 said everything, but Jon Hamm's face at the end was great. Even if the episode feels triumphant -- and it is -- it ends with this image of an isolated man.
The office was often empty this season. (The Walking Dead...)
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About Betty, I understand what you mean, but she's essential for me. The Field Trip episode wasn't interesting for her, but we had some time with Bobby (I liked how they cared about Bobby a little bit more this season, I feel how sick he is to be in this home.) And it's always an opportunity to see Sally! I care about her growing up. The rest of the series should give something meaningful to Betty.
The quality of the writing of Mad Men can take this shit hand they've been dealt with breaking up the season and make this shortened season a really good one.
I love Sally rejecting the young Don. Don gets called a bully football player. This guy shows up in a football uniform looking like a young Don. We think Sally is interested in him. Sally rejects him and goes for the nerd and the guy that doesn't smoke cause it causes cancer. After kissing him, she lights up a cig and smokes exactly like Betty and her friend in the kitchen talking about their exes.
I love how they brought back the take over from McCann.
It's a new beginning for the agency. I'm wondering how it will lead to the end of the series. The show started with the with the arrival of the 60's it could just end with the 60's ending. It might not need and "ending."
It was a proper send off for Cooper.
I had issues with Wiener's direction with last season's finale. I didn't have any with this finale. The only issue I could think of would be Megan's reaction to Don's idea of moving to Cali. I understand the need for the awkward silence but felt it was staged weird.
I haven't heard about these NPR spoilers. I have the terrible luck of just happening upon spoilers.
Quote from: Brando on May 28, 2014, 12:24:01 AM
I haven't heard about these NPR spoilers. I have the terrible luck of just happening upon spoilers.
Quote from: Drenk on May 27, 2014, 08:06:10 AM
I'm curious about the NPR spoilers. The show is very careful about spoilers (it's even an obsession, Weiner doesn't want people to know when a season start exactly.) How did they "find" this spoiler?
well since i started this and it keeps getting brought up, the way it was presented was super vague, and still it fucked shit up for me, so i'm going to do an even more diluted version:
EVEN VAGUER NPR SPOILER
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'something forgotten from one of the first seasons comes full circle, and its a huge crazy deal' is my best watered down re-iteration of what this dumb bitch said blatantly on air. she didn't even preface it with 'as all of us long time viewers know...' or anything.
Quote from: Brando on May 28, 2014, 12:24:01 AM
I had issues with Wiener's direction with last season's finale. I didn't have any with this finale. The only issue I could think of would be Megan's reaction to Don's idea of moving to Cali. I understand the need for the awkward silence but felt it was staged weird.
Weiner said in an interview that the scene wasn't supposed to be this long. Paré didn't want to leave us I suppose.
ABOUT THE NPR SPOILERS
Something forgotten...They fired Sal and never acknowledged his existence, but it wouldn't be a huge deal (it would be for me, though, and I hope he works at McCann). I just hope that Peggy's child won't magically appear from nowhere, it would be stupid.
I don't think Peggy's child would be considered a forgotten thing. It's constantly floating in the show's ether. The hug Peggy and Julio share being the most recent example.
you're all wrong!
super duper fucking spoilers regarding npr super spoiler, direct quote:
"the second part of the series finale addresses don revealing his past to everyone and the legal consequences that follow"
there, you guys happy?
Quote from: BB on May 28, 2014, 04:10:31 PM
I don't think Peggy's child would be considered a forgotten thing. It's constantly floating in the show's ether. The hug Peggy and Julio share being the most recent example.
Yes, of course. Or when she holds Joan's child in the premiere of Season 5. (Where EVERYONE holds Joan's child and, everytime, it means something else.)
I read the NPR spoiler. I don't know what I think about it. We don't even know if it's true. What I know is that one year is a long time. If you think about it, everything is resolved...I don't know what next year will be about. Weiner talked about the immaterial world. This spoiler seems pretty material to me.
Matthew Weiner interviewed on The Bret Easton Ellis Podcast (http://podcastone.com/Bret-Easton-Ellis-Podcast) (9/29/14)
thanks wilder but...ten minutes in and BEE hasn't shut up yet, literally, Weiner hasn't said a word...
ok, I took one for the team, Weiner starts talking at 11.38
Yes, I yelled: "Shut up" at my computer. He's till doing his long intros.
I'm listening to it! As always, great interview!
It's back April 5th. The end is nigh.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S46R5G0vhaw
those are some good lookin folks right there bo
Indeed. The spot itself is kind of cheesy though, no? Certainly not on par with teasers from previous seasons.
I still think this split-season nonsense for Mad Men was a huge mistake. I doubt they'll see any notable rise in ratings, certainly nowhere near the surge Breaking Bad experienced.
What do we think so far? Honestly, I'm a little nervous. Was spending an entire episode with Megan's family necessary? This Diana storyline is dreadfully boring and feels like wasted screen time. No offense to the actress playing her, but there's nothing remotely interesting about this character. And holy heavy handed imagery batman. Could that final shot be anymore obvious?
We have 5 episodes left after being cockteased for two years with this split-season nonsense. Get it together Weiner.
I loved the last two episodes. Loved them.
I'm not a big Megan fan, but it was the conclusion to five years of Don and Megan's life. I loved how crazy Megan's family is; I felt pity for her, I could imagine her young years.
Diana is a great and fascinating way to confront Don to himself, in a way. And it was the first time that I saw genuine love in his eyes. I think it's the end of their relationship, though.
I love the mood of these episodes. I can't really explain.
And there is a masterclass with Weiner in Paris this Sunday, and I'm going. And another with Weiner about french cinema Monday I'm going, too. If something interesting and new is said, I'll remember.
That's great! Weiner is a great interview. I'm sure both talks will be inspired.
Megan's anger towards Don seems completely unfounded. Last we left her she was telling Don that he didn't owe her anything. Now she's some entitled brat demanding all this money? And how exactly did Don ruin her life? She seemed to be enjoying her bohemian existence in Los Angeles. And this is coming from someone who actually liked Megan. They've turned her into this spoiled harpy ex-wife a la Jane.
I fail to see how Diana is in anyway fascinating. Maybe I'm just grumpy and want more screen time with the characters we've actually invested in for 7 years, especially since the click is ticking.
It isn't difficult for me to imagine that money can create conflict between people, and Megan feels a lot of resentment because she realized Don was a mistake. And he was. When she decided to be an actress, they had nothing in common anymore. She wasn't working with him; their dynamic was dead.
I remember when she felt jealous of Stephanie in 7A because she said she knew all of Don's secrets. She's angry about the life she lived. And she isn't successful at her job. She regrets the life she had. She wonders what she could have been without Don. Something better, maybe, she hopes. That's how I imagine her thoughts!
She is asking for money at the beginning of the episode because she's a struggling actress, she asks a lot, of course, but Don has millions. Don gave her a million because he felt guilty. She didn't ask for a million dollar! She took the money because...it's a million dollar!
There's an anger that I understand. Their peaceful breakup in Waterloo felt weird to me.
I'm in ©brad's camp on this one. I found the last time we saw Megan to be the perfect breakup scene/send off for her. Didn't really need to see her again, and definitely didn't need to see her family. IF we had to see her again, I would've preferred a small check-in with her -- maybe just that ridiculous scene with Harry. The check writing scene seemed to serve no purpose other than to assassinate her character. Very strange.
At a certain point during the episode (probably around that check writing scene) I started to wonder if I was watching the worst episode of Mad Men (so far). It felt like a jumbled together collection of stories I don't care about, which is especially troublesome this close to the end. The doors they were closing felt like they were closing in the wrong way, and the doors they were opening didn't feel like they needed to be opened. BUT I'm still not officially worried yet because... In Weiner I Trust.
Edit: thought the first episode was pretty great. Especially the Ken Cosgrove heel turn.
Quote from: Tictacbk on April 13, 2015, 02:00:27 PM
BUT I'm still not officially worried yet because... In Weiner I Trust.
Quote from: Tictacbk on April 13, 2015, 02:00:27 PM
BUT I'm still not officially worried yet because...
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Quote from: ©brad on April 13, 2015, 01:27:19 PM
Megan's anger towards Don seems completely unfounded. Last we left her she was telling Don that he didn't owe her anything. Now she's some entitled brat demanding all this money? And how exactly did Don ruin her life? She seemed to be enjoying her bohemian existence in Los Angeles. And this is coming from someone who actually liked Megan. They've turned her into this spoiled harpy ex-wife a la Jane.
That was 9-ish months ago in the time of the show and I guess we're to gather that the initial glow of LA is wearing off as she's getting more desperate about her career not taking off. So she's had nearly a year to start building this resentment towards Don about him suggesting they move to LA (and her quitting her plum soap opera gig). I think it's totally plausible.
Also: the Megan stuff seemed to be less about Megan and more about Don since this ep was all about the women in his life and obviously him coming home to an empty apartment is going to help nudge Don towards whatever change he's heading towards. He's already mentioned moving out of this apt, now he has no furniture, offered to skip out on work with Diana, etc. Maybe he'll end up moving to LA, not to be with Megan, but just cause he always seemed happier in California. Though it's hard to imagine him being satisfied without working so who knows.
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Matthew Weiner trying to explain where the camera is.
The masterclass was about In Care Of, we talked about the creative process around this particular episode, but Matthew Weiner being Matthew Weiner, he talked about a lot of things. About the episode, he said that Jon Hamm was recovering from an operation, his voice wasn't good, he had to rest for a day, without talking, before the Hershey pitch. He did it twice. John Slattery forgot to talk in one take after watching Jon Hamm.
Writers thought that Peggy wouldn't say: "Aren't you lucky? To have decisions?" because the grammar isn't correct and that Peggy, being a writer, would be aware of that fact. Weiner said Shut the fuck up to them.
He knows that Sally is the audience. He said that he's Sally too. (And more Pete Campbell than Don Draper.)
That he thought that he had fucked up the last scene of Season 6, that it would only be meaningful for him. Until his producer (I'm not sure it's the producer) said that some people never get that look from their father.
A joke about Jon Hamm saying to him: "Yes, it must be awful to have a bad name."
Something about the fact that they can't avoid an assassination, about a writer on the staff finding the idea of Pete's mom saying that Kenny has been shot, Pete not listening to her because she has Alzheimer. "If I hire you to write on the show, FIND SHIT LIKE THAT! I still have goosebumps."
713 will be five minute longer. The series finale ten minutes longer.
Etc, etc. Another masterclass tonight! I can't wait!
About the new episode: I loved it. Again. You can feel the end. It's weirdly gloomy.
EDIT: Oh, today's masterclass will be "live", it's in...four hours from now, here is a link: http://series-mania.fr/en/video/live-matthiew-weiner/
I never thought I would say this (and I think I may be in a boat of 1 right now since most people seem to be complaining that "Mad Men" is spending too much time on new characters instead of tying up loose ends) but I hope the show doesn't go out of its way to tie up too many loose ends! In the first 3 eps we've seen Rachel Menken, Glen, Megan's mom, Dr & Sylvia, etc. So far so good, but I'd hate for it to continue in such a way that it ends up feeling like a checklist of 'whatever happened to _____' with an answer supplied.
Quote from: modage on April 20, 2015, 11:25:37 AM
I'd hate for it to continue in such a way that it ends up feeling like a checklist of 'whatever happened to _____' with an answer supplied.
I think its totally going in that direction, which may not be bad if they keep doing it in a similar fashion.
What is both scary and awesome is that I have no idea where it's going overall. The great thing about this show every season is that major things have happened in an instant without any previous build up or expectation, so who knows.
I would like to see more Roger and Campbell doing something meaningful.
ugh guys I don't know. This show is limping towards its finale. It has no momentum, even by Mad Men standards. We've covered all of this shit before. These would be fine episodes in season 3 but we're on the home stretch now. 4 more left and we've still seen nothing of substance from Roger, Pete, hell even Peggy really.
Mad Men has always been heavy on metaphors and symbolism and that's why we love it, but so much of this season has felt too on-the-nose. And now we have two episodes back to back of Don standing alone in/outside an empty apartment. And another new lover we don't care about (Joan's).
There was some good stuff last night. I loved the back and forth between Peggy and Pete with Don in the middle. Don's line to Sally was great: "You are a beautiful girl... it's up to you to be something more than that." I will say that like most episodes of this show, I appreciate them more after I've had time to digest everything and rewatch. I just feel this season is missing that 'omg we're nearing the end' buzz you feel as a great series wraps up.
The video of the masterclass I talked about.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/k3RTk38Inm36a6aPwL9
The best oral history I have ever read.
QuoteMatthew Weiner (series creator): It was 2006, and I had just been fired from The Sopranos for writing an episode where every single character dies on a roller coaster. I had been toying with the idea for Mad Men for a number of years, and since I was currently out of work, I figured I would try pursuing it in earnest. I sat down and wrote all seven seasons of Mad Men in about four hours.
Ed Carroll (President, AMC Networks): At that time, the only thing airing on AMC was a show called Broderick Names Them Roderick, which was a reality show about Matthew Broderick holding divorced men at gunpoint and forcing them to change their legal name to Roderick against their will. We aired this show 24 hours a day. Needless to say, we were looking for some original programing.
Matthew Weiner: I walked into Ed Carroll's office without knocking, and I said, "What about a show where it's Don Draper, baby?"
Ed Carroll: Matt just stood in my office excitedly repeating the phrase "It's Don Draper, baby!" over and over again. I had no idea what Don Draper was, but I said to Matt, "You've got yourself a show."
http://www.clickhole.com/article/oral-history-mad-men-2329
New art in our office
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I have a thing for titles. And now, the last titles are known.
Time & Life
Lost Horizon
The Milk and Honey Route
Person to Person
And that's it...
I do not want this to end.
Are you guys happy? I'm very happy. Amazing episode. Amazing show.
This.
Quote from: Kal on April 27, 2015, 01:15:39 AM
I do not want this to end.
I will say for a show as cryptic and un-fan-service-y as MAD MEN, I am surprised at how much Weiner & co. seem to be going out of their way to actually wrap up every storyline, even minor ones in satisfying ways.
I thought about that obviously when we saw Trudy, but that was such a great scene between them and overall for Pete. They're not wrapping things up in a sloppy way. Same with Lou. Or how Peggy revisited her story. There are so many things happening in each episode already, and they manage to add great twists and turns along the way.
Ah that was great. Coulda been the finale and I almost would've been fine with it. First Don's apartment, now SC&P? They're striking sets left and right.
Also that scene with Trudy and Pete and the headmaster (or whatever) was so random and weird and wonderful.
I still think Don should end up in California.
now that was a great mad men episode.
I watch this a day late but the upside is that the f words aren't bleeped, thank you hbo.
Yeah it was a great episode. It's making me rethink the entire season and all my kvetching. I don't know why I expected some plot propulsion at this stage in the show. In a way it's kind of a bold move creatively to stick to the pace you've established and not bend to any critic or audience pressure to ramp things up in the end. Actually scratch that, Mad Men is ramping things up in its own way.
Basically never listen to a review I post immediately after an episode of a beloved show airs when I'm too viscerally drunk to comprehend things. This could be a fun thread topic - we all revisit our reviews in the past we now disagree with (or have we done this already?)
The endings so far have been really interesting in the consistent theme thats been mentioned before. Don being alone surroundedby a bunch of people made a lot of sense.
That was something.
That was one of the best episodes they've ever done.
My god that shot of Peggy walking into the office is all I ever want to be. (And I'm a man...)
Peggy and roger scenessome of the most iconic shit of this series
soo... yeah that was crazy. did fassbinder ghost direct that episode?
Quietly powerful episode.
(I missed Peggy a lot, though.)
EDIT : Blocked and accused of mansplaining and harassment on Twitter because I didn't think Betty's cancer was a punition because she couldn't cope with the change of a pre-feminist world. I wrote "Or maybe she couldn't cope with cancer because of all the cigarettes she smoked?" Sorry if my penis doesn't allow me to disagree. Anyway, who cares? That's Twitter.
Betty preserving her beauty in the end is the most important thing to her. I remember Weiner saying the tragedy of Betty Draper is she will one day lose her looks and that will be worse than death. But now, she doesn't have to.
And good god that letter. I wept like a baby. I don't see Betty being unable to cope with any sort of feminist-fueled change. In fact, what's amazing is how Betty did change and mature in subtle ways post-Don. She was going back to school and assuming a new identity of her own, which makes her diagnosis all the more tragic. Much is being made of the timing with Mother's Day but regardless, it was for me one of the most powerful storylines in the entire series.
Don's story was a slog and just dragged, but it was worth it for that final shot of him at the bus stop. That was great.
Pete's story seemed contrived. Of all the characters on Mad Men, he's the one who gets a happy ending? I didn't need an entire episode with Duck Phillips either, but so be it.
We need Peggy and Roger big in the finale. Also surely Don has to come back now right? I wouldn't be mad if it ended with him being a dad, cooking the kids breakfast or something. That would be a nice transformation.
I love this show but I'm actually glad it's ending now. It's so emotionally and existentially exhausting I don't think I can take much more.
Possible Finale Prediction
I have no clue what will happen in the finale and if they are planning some sort of time-jump, but I do imagine that something as tragic and important as Betty dying would be an excuse to bring all the characters together one more time. We haven't seen everyone together and there are so many older characters that are out of the picture, but a funeral like that one could bring them back.
Don being a dad would be a great way to start this new chapter of his life. Can't wait to see what happens with Roger and Peggy.
well that was horrible.
No. (I don't know what to get from the ending-ending, but I like it.)
the problem with long running, acclaimed and beloved tv shows is too much emphasis is put on finales- that will inevitably disappoint people in both directions and elicit knee-jerk reactions like "unsatisfying" (sopranos) "tied things up too neatly with a bow" (breaking bad) ,etc .
(side note: I've only seen a few episodes of the sopranos but i've watched the finale a hundred times on youtube and its one of my favorite endings to anything ever, breaking bad was a bit too neat imo)
anyway in both cases the act of letting go to something that you have been attached too over the course of several years is tough, and unlike movies, there is a subconscious desire to never want things to end and know everything while realizing that is idiotic, or to envision your best idea of an ending which will inevitably end in disappointment.
in the end it was just another episode. he jumped off the skyscraper and landed on a couch, cigarette in hand. it didn't really call attention to itself and it wasn't perfect, but it wasn't horrible either. it definitely felt rushed and there were a few too many fan service-y moments (the stan/peggy stuff wasn't handled very well), but it had moments of subtle brilliance (the way don's enlightenment is juxtaposed against the crass commercialism of the coke ad, the commodification of naive 60s values (inherent vice?), but really isn't that what "happiness" is anyway? (according to don)) its cynical and hopeful at the same time, and I prefer it too something overly "dark", or edgy or ambiguous or really anything "finale- like" which would go against what the show was always about anyway.
but i can understand why you would feel that way 03
After the finale, I recall an early episode where everyone is stoned in Peggy's office. Paul Kinsey starts to shout "This is the way the world ends, this is the way the world ends, this is the way the world ends - not with a bang, but a whimper." Kinsey's character really summed up the 60s as he followed every trend/movement/thought of the era. The 60s ultimately ended without a bang. A show about the 60s was going to end the same. I think It's been obvious the show was going to end the same way it began: with the end of one decade/era and with the beginning of a new decade/era.
I really wish they would have had the failed SCD West pitch as the mid season finale. It would have been more shocking rather than when they had a few episode ago. You realized before it happened that they can't do this again and were going to fail.
I really like Don's "On The Road" episodes. I wish it would have lasted the majority of the last 7 episodes.
The show was well aware of the viewers' expectations of someone falling to their deaths. Don checked to see if his windows in his new office would open, Roger talked about jumping off a 2 story ship, and having the retreat next to a cliff shows the writers were playing with us.
Don keeps getting rejected by anyone he tries to attach himself. His real family doesn't want him around. His adopted Draper family don't want him. The only one that wants him around is Peggy and the agency. And that's the family he returns to in order to create the coke commercial.
I love how subtle it's been leading up to Don was behind the iconic commercial. In the failed pitch, Don is offered the coke account. Peggy mentions coke to him on the phone. He has to fix a coke machine at the motel. Bob Dylan said of his song Tangled up in Blue that it took him"ten years to live and two years to write." We've witnessed the last decade of Don's life. We witnessed an entire decade. The commercial is a swans song for the 60s and of course it would be Don who creates it.
THIS (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0036439/?ref_=nmmd_md_nm) guy! Give this man some bigger roles!
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He's like the Coca-Cola of people. Perfect casting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOzS9Azg0Ag